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Friday, September 9, 2016

Bullish on Stanhopeas

Stanhopea hernandezii
For a long time I thought of Stanhopea hernandezii as a sort of junior sized version of Stanhopea tigrina, that mastodon of the stanhopeas. Both give the impression of a massive cranium and formidable tusks. But it wasn't until this summer when we flowered both species simultaneously that I was able to compare them side by side.
Stanhopea tigrina
In profile, it's easy to see that the the bottom of the hypochile is rounded like a bowl in hernandezii, but flattened in tigrina.
Stanhopea tigrina, a second color form
Stanhopea hernandezii, dorsal view
The horns are round in cross section and slender in hernandezii, but flattened and broad near the base in tigrina.
Stanhopea tigrina, dorsal view
Stanhopea tigrina, dorsal view
Stanhopea hernandezii, lip and column
Notice the striking difference in the columns of the two species: hernandezii's narrow column compared with tigrina's broadly winged column.
Stanhopea tigrina, lip and column
Stanhopea tigrina, lip and column
Stanhopea hernandezii, lip
With the column removed you can see how much broader the epichile is in tigrina than in hernandezii.
Stanhopea tigrina, lip
Stanhopea tigrina, lip
Stanhopea hernandezii, lip in ventral view
Stanhopea tigrina, lip in ventral view
Stanhopea tigrina, lip in ventral view
Stanhopea hernandezii, column
Stanhopea tigrina, column
Stanhopea tigrina, column
Stanhopea hernandezii and tigrina are both endemic to Mexico. S. hernandezii occurs on the southwestern slopes of the Mexican plateau at about 1,600 to 2,000 meters elevation in the states of Morelos, Mexico and Michoacan. I can't find referennce to a specific pollinator for hernandezii. The largest fragrance components measured by Gerlach (in Lankesteriana 2010) are cinnamyl acetate (64%) and benzyl acetate (11%).

Stanhopea tigrina is known from  the eastern slopes of the plateau at about 1200 to 1800 meters in the states of Tamaulipas, Hidalgo, Puebla and Vera Cruz. Its pollinator is Euglossa viridissima. The chocolate fragrance described so often in the literature (but which I cannot discern in our plants) derives from the combination of phenylethyl-acetate, a primary component of the fragrance, and vanilline, one of the secondary components, according to Rudolf Jenny.

Our S. hernandezii, which we received from a commercial nursery as S. ecornuta, flowered in August and probably won't be on display again until next summer. On the other hand, we have quite a few S. tigrina in our collection. The flowers only last about three days, but it's definitely worth stopping by to try to catch them when they flower in August and September. They are magnificent.

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