Quisqueya
(pronounced: kwiss-KWAY-ah)
Classification
Epidendreae subtribe Laeliinae; allied to Psychilis Rafinesque, the flowers resembling Tetramicra Lindley.
Overview
Caespitose epiphytes, lithophytes or terrestrials with warty roots. Stems slender, terete, with one to four close-fitting sheaths. Leaves one to four towards the stem apex, ligulate to ensiform with serrulate margins. Inflorescences terminal, solitary, few-flowered racemes. Sepals and petals subsimilar, free, spreading. Lip deeply three-lobed, flat, fused for a short distance with the column base, the basal callus continuous with anterior keels. Column semiterete, straight, with an apical tooth to each side of the anther; pollinia 8 in four pairs, at times 12 with two pairs smaller. Ovary continuous with the throat of the lip, forming an inclosed spur.
Distribution
A genus of four species endemic to the island of Hispaniola.
Care and Culture Card
See basic growing conditions and care information below.
While Quisqueya may be accomodated in small pots, slab culture is recommended, similar to that given plants of Barkeria Knowles and Westcott. Give Quisqueya frequent (daily) watering provided there is adequate air circulation and the plants have the opportunity to dry out between waterings. Grow Q. karstii under intermediate to warm temperatures. The other species require cool-intermediate temperatures.
Literature
Dod, D. D. 1979. Quisqueya, a new and endemic genus from the island of Hispaniola. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 48(2):140-150. Dod, D. D. 1984. Quisqueya: a new and endemic genus from the island of Hispaniola. Bol. Soc. Dominicana Orquideologia 2(2):40-53, 2(3):16-31.
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