Monographs Details:
Authority:
Acevedo-RodrÃguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
Acevedo-RodrÃguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
Family:
Orchidaceae
Orchidaceae
Description:
Species Description - Epiphytic or epilithic herb to 45 cm tall; roots velamentous, numerous, from the short, stout rhizome and base of stem, fleshy, 2-3 mm thick; stems pseudobulbous, slender, fusiform, slightly compressed, composed of several internodes, to 25 cm long. Leaves 1-3, stiff, coriaceous, to 17 x 4 cm. Flowers 1-10, resupinate, on a terminal raceme to 15 cm long; peduncles erect or arching, covered by distichous, conduplicate bracts, to 17 cm long; floral bracts lanceolate, canaliculate, spreading or clasping the ovary, 2-4.5 cm long. Sepals and petals similar, green to yellowish brown, revolute, linear, spreading, 40-50 X 3-6 mm; lip white, attached to the full length of the column, trilobed, to 3 cm long, the outer margin of the lateral lobes deeply and irregularly dissected, the middle lobe entire, linear, 2.2-3 cm long, basal callus small, bilobed, sometimes yellow, flanking the entrance to the nectar tube; column white, apically dilated, ca. 1.5 cm long; pollinia 4, yellow; pedicellate ovary slender, ca. 5 cm long. Fruit stipitate, green, ellipsoidal, 2.5-3 cm long, beak prominent, ca. 2 cm long.
Distribution and Ecology - Locally common on boulders, particularly near the coast. Enighed (A5100), Solomon Bay (A2279). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; Mexico to South America, including the West Indies.
Species Description - Epiphytic or epilithic herb to 45 cm tall; roots velamentous, numerous, from the short, stout rhizome and base of stem, fleshy, 2-3 mm thick; stems pseudobulbous, slender, fusiform, slightly compressed, composed of several internodes, to 25 cm long. Leaves 1-3, stiff, coriaceous, to 17 x 4 cm. Flowers 1-10, resupinate, on a terminal raceme to 15 cm long; peduncles erect or arching, covered by distichous, conduplicate bracts, to 17 cm long; floral bracts lanceolate, canaliculate, spreading or clasping the ovary, 2-4.5 cm long. Sepals and petals similar, green to yellowish brown, revolute, linear, spreading, 40-50 X 3-6 mm; lip white, attached to the full length of the column, trilobed, to 3 cm long, the outer margin of the lateral lobes deeply and irregularly dissected, the middle lobe entire, linear, 2.2-3 cm long, basal callus small, bilobed, sometimes yellow, flanking the entrance to the nectar tube; column white, apically dilated, ca. 1.5 cm long; pollinia 4, yellow; pedicellate ovary slender, ca. 5 cm long. Fruit stipitate, green, ellipsoidal, 2.5-3 cm long, beak prominent, ca. 2 cm long.
Distribution and Ecology - Locally common on boulders, particularly near the coast. Enighed (A5100), Solomon Bay (A2279). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; Mexico to South America, including the West Indies.
Discussion:
Common name: Christmas orchid.