Oeceoclades maculata (Lindl.) 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

    Oeceoclades maculata (Lindl.) Lindl.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Plants caespitose terrestrials. Roots white, numerous, fleshy, 3-6 mm diam. Pseudobulbs ovoid, slightly compressed, unifoliate, to 4 cm tall, often covered by scarious bracts. Leaves solitary from apex of pseudobulb, subpetiolate; blade green with darker mottling, conduplicate, coriaceous, subsucculent, oblong to elliptic, 8-25 cm long, 15-51 mm wide. Inflorescence lateral, scape erect, sparsely bracteate, to 28 cm long; raceme 5-15-flowered, to 15 cm long, secondary racemes sometimes forming from axils of scape bracts; floral bracts inconspicuous, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, shorter than ovary. Flowers resupinate, produced in succession. Pedicellate ovary slender, 7-13 mm long. Sepals 8-14 mm long, 2-3 mm wide; dorsal sepal lanceolate to linear-elliptic, acute to acuminate; lateral sepals falcate-sigmoid, lanceolate-elliptic, acute to acuminate. Petals erect, connivent with the dorsal sepal, elliptic-oblanceolate, acute, about as long and slightly broader than the sepals. Lip concave, pandurate, basal lobes erect, apical lobe subquadrate, emarginate, ca. 8 mm long; spur ca. 4 mm long. Column 3-4 mm long; pollinia yellow, attached to a short stipe with a broad viscidium. Fruits green, angled, 3-sided, 2-3 cm long. Chromosomes: 2n = 58 (Arends et al., 1980).

  • Discussion

    1. Oeceoclades maculata (Lindley) Lindley, Gen. Sp. Orchid. PL 237. 1833. Angraecum maculatum Lindley, Coll. Bot. t. 15. 1821. Eulophidium maculatum (Lindley) Pfitzer, Entwurf. Anordn. Orch. 88. 1887. Type. Loddiges 34.10.16, from Brazil (BM). Phenology & Pollination. Plants flower from August to November, develop capsules during the winter, and disperse seed by early spring. Oeceoclades maculata was first discovered in Puerto Rico during the 1960s and has spread rapidly since. Flowers are autogamous. Natural agitation by rain or wind helps dislodge the pollinia from the anther. The viscidium remains in place, but the stipe bends and swings the pollinia downward, which then may contact the stigma (Gonzalez-Diaz & Ackerman, 1988).

  • Distribution

    General Distribution. Tropical Africa, Florida (U.S.A.), Panama, South America, and West Indies.

    Africa| United States of America North America| Panama Central America| South America| West Indies| Puerto Rico South America| Virgin Islands South America|