Lycaste barringtoniae (Sm.) Lindl.

  • Authority

    Ackerman, James D. 1995. An orchid flora of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 73: 1-203.

  • Family

    Orchidaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Lycaste barringtoniae (Sm.) Lindl.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants terrestrials, lithophytes, or epiphytes. Roots numerous, thick, fleshy. Stems pseudobulbous, ovoid-ellipsoidal, angled, 4.5-9 cm tall, 2.8-5 cm wide. Leaves 2-3, petiolate, plicate, elliptic, acuminate, 25-50 cm long, 8-12 cm broad. Inflorescences 1-3, bracteate, 7-12 cm long, lateral, single-flowered; floral bract conduplicate, enveloping the ovary, 30-35 mm long. Flowers large, fleshy, resupinate. Sepals and petals dull green to yellowish. Pedicellate ovary 1.5-3 cm long. Sepals 4-6 cm long, 1.7-1.9 cm wide; dorsal sepal ovate-lanceolate; lateral sepals similar but falcate, attached to the column foot, forming a mentum. Petals ovate to lanceolate, acuminate, tips reflexed, dorsal margins erose, ca. 4.4 cm long, 1.4-1.6 cm wide. Lip whitish to yellow-orange, trilobed, cuneate, 3-4.4 cm long, 1.8 cm broad; lateral lobes acuminate, erect, flanking the column; midlobe ovate, apically saccate, lateral margins fimbriate; disc callus 2.8-3 cm long, truncate, retuse with 5 longitudinal ridges and terminating at the base of the midlobe. Column white, gently curved, ventrally ciliate, 12-15 mm long; column foot 10-14 mm long. Fruits ellipsoid with 6 thick, rounded, longitudinal ridges, ca. 4.5 cm long.

  • Discussion

    1. Lycaste barringtoniae (J. E. Smith) Lindley, Edward's Bot. Reg. 30: Misc. 43. 1844. Epidendrum barringtoniae J. E. Smith, Ic. Pict. t. 15. 1793. Type. Hort. Barrington s.n., from Jamaica (no specimen exits in the Smith herbarium, so unless there is a specimen elsewhere, the plate should serve as the type). Phenology & Pollination. Plants flower during the late spring. The genus Lycaste is generally pollinated by euglossine bees in Central and South America. These bees are absent in the Greater Antilles (except perhaps Jamaica). Illustrations. Fawcett & Rendle, 1910; Fowlie, 1970. MA

  • Distribution

    General Distribution. Greater Antilles.