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(Last Modified On 1/20/2013)
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(Last Modified On 1/20/2013)
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Genus
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LYCASTE Lindl.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Bot. Reg. Misc. n. s. 6: Misc. 14. 1843
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Reference
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Benth. & Hook. Gen. Pl. 3:547. 1883.
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Synonym
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Deppia Raf. Fl. Tellur. 2:51. 1836.
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Description
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Erect, epiphytic or sometimes pseudo-terrestrial herbs. Pseudobulbs short, fleshy, ovoid or ellipsoid, tapering, often laterally compressed, smooth or plurisulcate, the bases enveloped in several closely imbricating, papery or coarsely fibrous bracts, the upper 1 or 2 of which are usually foliaceous; the apex with 1 to several, usually broad, plicate leaves which are ultimately deciduous, the apex of the old pseudobulbs with or without 2 sharp marginal spines; roots fibrous, often pubescent or conspicuously lanuginose. Inflorescences 1 to many erect, stout or filiform, single-flowered scapes from the base of the pseudobulbs, enveloped in several closely imbricating or distant, tubular or spathaceous, papery bracts. Flowers small to large, usually more or less nodding. Sepals subequal, membranaceous, spreading, the laterals somewhat broader than the dorsal sepal, sometimes somewhat reflexed, adnate at the base to the foot of the column, forming a short mentum. Petals subequal to the dorsal sepal or shorter. Lip conspicuously or obscurely 3-lobed, the base continuous with, or articulated with, the foot of the column, lateral lobes or margins erect, mid-lobe spreading or reflexed; disk with a thickened callus. Column slender, semiterete, rather arcuate, produced at the base into a foot. Anther terminal, operculate, incumbent, 1-celled; pollinia 4. waxy.
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Note
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A rather perplexing genus of perhaps 25 species of American epiphytes, ranging from southern Mexico to Peru, Brazil, and the West Indies. Although many of the species have been put at one time or another into the allied genus Maxillaria, they are readily separable by the plicate, rather than conduplicate leaves. Five species are known to occur in Panama.
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Key
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Flowers produced after the leaves have fallen, or concurrently with the flush of new growth. Pseudobulbs at flowering time without mature foliage. b. Lip when spread out about as long as broad; apical lobe without a basal constriction. c. Lip more than 1.5 cm. long ........................................................ 1. L. BREVISPATHA cc. Lip less than 1.5 cm. long .................................................... .... 2. L. CAMPBELLII bb. Lip when spread out about twice as long as broad; apical lobe with a basal constriction ................................. 5. L. TRICOLOR aa. Apex of the old pseudobulbs not armed with 2 conspicuous sharp spines. Flowers produced at the end of the current season's growth, after the pseudobulbs have matured, but before the leaves have fallen. b. Lip conspicuously 3-lobed, more than twice as long as broad when spread out; apical lobe ovate or subquadrate ........................................ 3. L. MACROPHYLLA bb. Lip obscurely 3-lobed, less than twice as long as broad when spread out; apical lobe broadly obtuse, separated from the laterals by plicate folds ........................................ 4. L. POWELLII
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