Comparettia

Maxillarieae subtribe Oncidiinae

Caespitose epiphytes. Pseudobulbs slender, subtended by papery bracts, rarely foliaceous. Inflorescences axillary long-pedunculate racemes or panicles, few-flowered to many-flowered, the floral bracts inconspicuous. Flowers showy, usually brilliantly colored. Dorsal sepal and petals free, spreading, the dorsal sepal concavd forming a hood over the column, the lateral sepals fused forming a long, slender spur. Lip three-lobed, fused to the column at the middle of the lip, the midlobe fan-shaped with an apical notch, with a pair of slender auricles at the base nestled in the sepaline spur, with callus. Column stout, without foot or wings; pollinia 2, on a common viscidium and stipe.

Honoring Andreo Comparetti, professor of botany at Padua, Italy.

A genus of seven species, somewhat confused by rather frequent natural hybridization, found throughout the neotropics from Mexico to Bolivia.

Bock, I. 1986. Revision der Gattung Comparettia Poepp. und Endl., teil 1. Die Orchidee 37:192-196.

Bock, I. 1986. Revision der Gattung Comparettia Poepp. et Endl., teil 2. Die Orchidee 37:199-206.

Bock, I. 1986. Revision der Gattung Comparettia Poepp. et Endl., teil 3. Die Orchidee 37:255-263.

Bourdon, M. 1991. Les Comparettia. L’Orchidoph. 97:101-105.

Jesup, P. 1986. Comparettias in Connecticut. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 55(6):564-569.

Kennedy, G. 1978. The genus Comparettia. Orchid Digest 45(5):188-189.

Meléndez-Ackerman, E. J., J. D. Ackerman, and J. A. Rodríguez-Robles 2000. Reproduction in an orchid can be resource-limited over its lifetime. Biotropica 32(2):282-290.

Ortiz V., P. 1993. A new Comparettia from Colombia. Orquideologia 19(1):14-15.

Salguero-Faría, J. A. and J. D. Ackerman 1999. A nectar reward: Is more better? Biotropica 31(2):303-311.

Sheehan, T. and M. Sheehan 1977. Orchid Genera Illustrated 58: Comparettia. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 46(9):804-805.

Tuskes, P. and A. Tuskes 1999. A review of the genus Comparettia. Orchid Digest 63(4):164-171.