Dilomilis montana (Sw.) Summerh.

• 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

  Dilomilis montana (Sw.) Summerh.

• Description

  
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  Species Description - Plants terrestrial or epiphytic, glabrous, to 1 m tall. Roots white, 1-2 mm diam. Stems erect, terete, canelike, sometimes branched, covered by persistent leaf sheaths, 3-5 mm diam. Leaves numerous, coriaceous, rigid, entire, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate-elliptic, 4-7 cm long, 7-18 mm wide. Inflorescences terminal, erect, sometimes branched, 30 cm or more tall including bracteate peduncle, (1-)3-12-flowered; floral bracts stiff, erect, sheathing the rachis for about half their length, 5-12 mm long. Flowers white, resupinate, slightly nodding. Pedicellate ovary slender, 8-13 mm long. Dorsal sepal 5-nerved, linear-oblong, acute, 14-21 mm long, 4-5 mm wide; lateral sepals thicker than dorsal sepal, slightly oblique, lanceolate, obtuse, 14-19 mm long, 4-5 mm wide. Petals 3-nerved, entire, slightly falcate, oblique, linear-oblong, acuminate, apiculate, 12-18 mm long, 2.5-3.5 mm wide. Lip trilobed, 8-11 mm long, 7-10 mm wide when spread; lateral lobes purple-spotted, short, erect, falcate, oblong-triangular, rounded; middle lobe with a median yellow line and 3 spotted crests, the lateral much larger than the median, margin undulate. Column stout, broadest at base, ventrally concave, narrowly winged, 5-7 mm long; pollinia yellow. Fruits cylindrical-ellipsoidal, to 3 cm long. Chromosomes: n = 21.

• Discussion

  1. Dilomilis montana (Swartz) Summerhayes, Taxon 10: 253. 1961. Epidendrum montanum Swartz, Nov. Gen. Sp. PL Prodr. 121. 1788. Octodesmia montana (Swartz) Bentham, J. Linn. Soc, Bot. 18: 311. 1881. Type. Swartz s.n., from Jamaica ( B M ). Phenology & Pollination. Plants flower from December to March. By early spring, the fruits are well formed. Dilomilis montana is self-compatible but not autogamous. At a population near Pico del Este, about one-third of the pollinated flowers matured fruit during the 1993 flowering season. The final fruit set was 7.4% (I. Rodriguez Colon & J. D. Ackerman, unpubl.).

• Distribution

  General Distribution. Greater Antilles.