SITF Blog

Maxillaria-aurea-2023-03-15 *SITF confirms this plant is Maxillaria aurea (Mar 2023).

This plant is an excellent match to the description of Maxillaria aurea in Eric Christenson's unfinished Monograph on Maxillaria; matches the photo of M. aurea in Kew's Plants of the World On-line (POWO); key characteristics include the narrow and acute leaves. A major defining difference between this species and M. cordyline (Aka M. gigantea), a species often confused with M. aurea, is the apices of the petals, which are clawed in M. aurea (as described in the IOSPE). Note: No lectotype was selected, although there appears to be two of the type collection that may be different species in Eric's book.

Posted on Mar 15, 2023

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Maxillaria-hematoglossa-2022-12-19 *SITF confirms this plant is Maxillaria hematoglossa (Jul 2023).

According to the late Eric Christenson, M. hematoglossa is most similar to M. praestans, but differs in the spots that form the stripes, being concentrated only near the base in M. praestans and all the way out on the segments in M. hematoglossa and in the relative length of the crest and side lobes of the two species; in M. hematoglossa the side lobes are about 1/3 the length of the lip and in M. praestans, about 1/2 the length. This plant shows the lip side lobe length to be less than 1/2 the total lip. Another similar species, M. cucullata, does not have this dark lip and the sepals and petals are unspotted. This plant matches the photo of M. hematoglossa in Christenson's Unfinished Monograph, Vol. 1. Matching photos of M. hematoglossa can also be found in the IOSPE, OW and orchidroots.com.

Posted on Dec 19, 2022

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Maxillaria-mapiriensis-2022-12-19 *SITF confirms this plant as Maxillaria mapiriensis (May 2023).

These flowers are somewhat larger than those described in "Orchidacearum Peruvianum", but it superficially fits the description; there is a notch in the lower edge of the column and acute side lobes which also match the description. Christenson's Monograph, Vol. 2 has a photo of the vegetative growth of M. mapiriensis that is an excellent match to this plant and the illustration in Vol. H-O of Dunsterville & Garay's, "Orchids of Venezuela" matches this flower as well. Matching photos can be found in the OW and in the IOSPE's (Another Color Form).

Posted on Dec 19, 2022

Gustavo Adolfo Aguirre Arias Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela, and Bolovia

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