Stanhopea
(pronounced: stan-HOHP-ee-ah)
Classification
Maxillarieae subtribe Stanhopeinae
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Overview
Large caespitose epiphytes. Roots thick, white. Pseudobulbs ovoid, usually deeply ridged, subtended by persistent dry bract remnants. Leaves solitary, erect, elliptic, rigid, parchment-like, petiolate. Inflorescences basal, pendent, few-flowered, usually chandelier-like racemes, the peduncle bracts and floral bracts prominent, papery, brown, oftne inflated. Flowers showy, typically extremely fragrant, lasting for only a few days. Sepals and petals free, spreading, usually +/- reflexed. Lip fleshy, rigid, complex, divided into a hypochile, mesochile and epichile, the hypochile usually saccate, the mesochile usually with a pair of conspicuous incurved horns subequal in length to the epichile. Column elongate, subequal to the lip, straight or arching, with wide membranaceous wings, often with apical teeth; pollinia 2, each with a longitudinal groove, on a common short stipe and large viscidium.
Distribution
A genus of about 55 species found from Mexico to Bolivia and Trinidad.
Care and Culture Card
See basic growing conditions and care information below.
Because of their stiffly pendent inflorescences, grow plants of Stanhopea in baskets that allow the inflorescences to emerge from the bottom. They may also be grown on slabs with a large pad of moisture-retaining material at the roots or in pots which have had the bottoms removed and replaced with a wide gauge wire mesh. Provide bright diffuse light, intermediate temperatures, and steady watering throughout the year. Stanhopeas should never fully dry out at the roots. Stanhopeas are notoriously resentful of disturbance. Once established the plants rarely need repotting and when repotted root disturbance should be kept to a minimum. The more overgrown and undisturbed the plants are, the better they will bloom. Species-level taxonomy of Stanhopea is difficult because many species produce superficially similar flowers that are ecologically isolated by variations in floral fragrance and floral architecture that coincide with different pollinators. The column, column wings and horns on the mesochile of the lip coordinate to define an opening size excluding pollinators of inappropriate size. In addition, floral color is often highly variable including the presence or absence of the large pair of dark maroon spots towards the base of the hypochile that is often considered characteristic of certain species. For the highly variable species the flower colors presented here represent the most common phase or phases of the species. Column without conspicuous wings. ................... Column with conspicuous wings. .... ##
Literature
Bellone, R. 1998. Les Stanhopea du Mexique. Orchid. Cult. & Protect. 34(2):15-18. Braga, P. I. S. 1976. Estudos da flora orquidologica do Estado do Amazonas. I. Decricao e observacao da biologia floral de Stanhopea candida Barb. Rodr. Acta Amazonica 6:433-438. Dodson, C. H. 1975. Clarification of some nomenclature in the genus Stanhopea (Orchidaceae). Selbyana 1:46-55. Dodson, C. H. and G. P. Frymire 1962. Preliminary studies in the genus Stanhopea (Orchidaceae). Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 48:137-172. Dressler, R. L. 1989. Stanhopea avicula, a new twin-flowered species from eastern Panama. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 58:885-886. Haager, J. R. and J. Jenik 1984. Stanhopea tadeasi: a new orchid from the Ecuadorian Andes. Orchid Digest 48:182-183. Jenny, R. 1980. Stanhopea tigrina Bateman ex Lindley 1838. Die Orchidee 31(2): Orchideenkartei 163-164. Jenny, R. 1981. Stanhopea tricornis Lindley 1849. Die Orchidee 32(2): Orchideenkartei 205-206. Jenny, R. 1981. Stanhopea cirrhata Lindley 1850. Die Orchidee 32(3): Orchideenkartei 217-218. Jenny, R. 1984. Stanhopea jenischiana Kramer ex Rchb.f. 1852. Die Orchidee 35(2): Orchideenkartei 335-336. Jenny, R. 1986. Stanhopea annulata Mansfeld 1938. Die Orchidee 37(2): Orchideenkartei 441-442. Jenny, R. 1986. Stanhopea florida Rchb.f. 1879. Die Orchidee 37(2): Orchideenkartei 443-444. Jenny, R. 1986. Stanhopea impressa Rolfe 1898. Die Orchidee 37(3): Orchideenkartei 449-450. Jenny, R. 1986. Stanhopea connata Klotzsch 1854. Die Orchidee 37(3): Orchideenkartei 37(3):451-452. Jenny, R. 1987. Die Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Teil I: S. jenischiana, reichenbachiana, tricornis, platyceras, candida, grandiflora. Die Orchidee 38:231-239. Jenny, R. 1988. Naturhybriden mit Stanhopea ecornuta: S. x lewisae, S. x horichiana, S. x fowlieana. Die Orchidee 39:6-9. Jenny, R. 1988. Die Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Teil II: S. hernandezii und martiana. Die Orchidee 39:62-67. Jenny, R. 1988. Die Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Teil III: S. saccata und radiosa. Die Orchidee 39:91-94. Jenny, R. 1988. Die Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Teil IV: S. deltoidea, xytriophora und intermedia. Die Orchidee 39:224-229. Jenny, R. 1989. Die Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Teil V: Stanhopea pulla, annulata, cirrhata, Stanhopea connata (Stanhopea tadeasi), Stanhopea ecornuta. Die Orchidee 40:22-29. Jenny, R. 1989. Die Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Teil VI: Stanhopea embreei, Stanhopea impressa, Stanhopea frymirei, Stanhopea inodora und Stanhopea lietzei. Die Orchidee 40:158-163. Jenny, R. 1990. Die Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Teil VII: Stanhopea insignis Frost ex Hooker. Die Orchidee 41:54-59. Jenny, R. 1991. Die Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Teil VIII: Stanhopea costaricensis Rchb.f., S. gibbosa Rchb.f., S. panamensis Williams & Whitten. Die Orchidee 42:151-157. Jenny, R. 1991. Die Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Teil IX: Stanhopea anfracta Rolfe, Stanhopea pozoi Dodson & Bennett, Stanhopea shuttleworthii Rchb.f. Die Orchidee 42(6):295-299. Jenny, R. 1992 Die Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Teil X: Stanhopea graveolens Lindley, Stanhopea warszewicziana Klotzsch, Stanhopea wardii Loddiges ex Lindley. Die Orchidee 43(3):113-119. Jenny, R. 1993. Die Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Teil XI: Stanhopea tigrina Bateman ex Lindley, Stanhopea tigrina var. nigroviolacea Morren. Die Orchidee 44(2):65-70. Jenny, R. 1993. Die Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Teil XII: Stanhopea florida Rchb.f., Stanhopea haselowiana Rchb.f., Stanhopea nigripes Rolfe. Die Orchidee 44(3):137-142. Jenny, R. 1993. Stanhopea in Costa Rica & Panama. Schlechteriana 4(1-2):66-92. Jenny, R. 1993. Preliminary checklist of the genus Stanhopea. Schlechteriana 4(3):128-140. Jenny, R. 1993. Stanhopeas from Brazil. Schlechteriana 4(4):161-173. Jenny, R. 1994. Le Gongorinae, 7. Stanhopea, Parte XIII: S. avicula Dressler, S. guttulata Lindley e S. stevensonii Mejia & Escobar ex Jenny spec nov. Caesiana 3:9-22. Jenny, R. 1997. Stanhopea platyceras Rchb.f. und ihr albino. Die Orchidee 48(1):4-8. Jenny, R. 1998. Stanhopea warszewicziana Klotzsch 1852. Die Orchidee 49(4): Orchideenkartei Seite 883-884. Jenny, R. and G. J. Braem 1993. A new Stanhopea from Columbia[sic]. Schlechteriana 4(3):125-127. Rosillo, S. V. 1984. Stanhopea novogaliciana Rosillo, una nueva especie del occidente de Mexico. Orquidea(Mex.) 9(2):251-256. Stern, W. L., K. J. Curry and A. M. Pridgeon 1987. Osmophores of Stanhopea (Orchidaceae). Amer. J. Bot. 74(9):1323-1331.
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