IOSPE PHOTOS

Sophronitis wittigiana Barb. Rodr. 1878

Another Clone

Photos by © Jay Pfahl

Another Clone

Photo by © Richard Korber - Australia copyrighted ©

Flower and Plant

Drawing

Drawing by © Cogniaux

Common Name Wittig's Sophronitis [German Plant Collector - Brazil 1800's]

Flower Size 1.6 to 2.6" [4 to 6.5 cm]

Found in Espirito Santo state of Brazil on the central mountain range in tropical forests in gully swamps on mossy, rough-barked trees at elevations of 700 to 2000 meters as a mini-miniature sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte with globular pseudobulbs that are arranged in two rows along the rhizome and carry a single, apical, ovate, stiff, leathery leaf that blooms in the winter on an apical, 2.4 to 3.2" [6 to 8 cm] long, single to few flowered inflorescence in nature but in cultivation.

Mount this species on cork and give bright light, cool to warm temperatures, with ample water year round with a lessening in the coldest part of the winter.

Synonyms Cattleya wittigiana (Barb.Rodr.) Van den Berg 2008; Cattleya wittigiana f. candida (Roeth & O.Gruss) Van den Berg 2008; Hadrolaelia wittigiana ( Barb.Rodr. ) Chiron & V.P.Castro 2002; Hadrolaelia wittigiana f. candida (Roeth & O.Gruss) Roeth & O.Gruss 2005; Sophronitis grandiflora var. purpurea (Rchb.f.) A.H.Kent 1887; Sophronitis grandiflora var rosea Hort 1884; Sophronitis purpurea Rchb.f 1878; Sophronitis rosea Gostling 1884; Sophronitis rosea var wittigiana Barb Rodr.; Sophronitis violacea O'Brien 1886; Sophronitis wittigiana f. candida Roeth & O.Gruss 2005; Sophronitis wittigiana var. longifolia Cogn. 1901

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

*Rev. Hort. (Paris) 50: 24 Barb Rodr. 1878

Gard. Chron., n.s., 9: 462 Rchb.f 1878 as S purpurea; nom. illeg.

"Gard. Chron., n.s., 21: 243 Gostling 1884 as S rosea;

Man. Orchid. Pl. 2: 106 A H Kent 1887 as S grandiflora var purpurea;

Fl. Bras. 3(5): 318 Cogn. 1901 as S wittiginana

Fl. Bras. 3(5): 318 Cogn. 1901 as S wittiginana var longifolia;

Fl. Bras. 3(5): tab 70 Cogn. 1901 as S wittiginana drawing fide

Iconografia de Orchidaceae Do Brasil Hoehne 1949 as S grandiflora var rosea drawing fide;

AOS Bulletin Vol 39 #5 1970 as S coccinea var rosea photo fide;

*Orchid Digest Vol 36 No 5 1972 photo fide;

Orchidaceae Brasilienses Pabst & Dungs Band I 1975 drawing fide;