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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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GONGORA Ruiz & Pavon
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PlaceOfPublication
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Fl. Peruv. & Chil. Prodr. 117, t. 25. 1794
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Reference
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Benth. & Hook. Gen. Pl. 3:549. 1883; Pfitz. in Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 2:169. 1888.
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Synonym
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Acropera Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orch. Pl. 172. 1833.
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Description
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Epiphytic herbs. Pseudobulbs stout, ovoid, ridged, the bases enveloped in 2-3 fibrous, imbricating bracts, the apex with 2-3 broad, plicate, petiolate, elliptic- lanceolate leaves. Inflorescences usually elongate, pendent racemes from the base of the pseudobulbs. Flowers few to many, relatively large, on long pedicels. The genus has been divided by Pfitzer into the two sections ACRPERA and EUGONGORA. In section ACROPERA: pedicels usually strongly arcuate; the lateral sepals about as broad as long, spreading or somewhat reflexed, the apex broadly acute or obtuse and abruptly apiculate; the sepals and petals all more or less connivent at the base; the lip with a narrow, short or elongate, ligular basal claw; the mesochile conspicuously lobed or inflated and saccate, rarely with apical horns or antennae; the epichile elongate, lanceolate-acuminate, sometimes reduced to an obscure apicule, or divided and biligular at the apex; column slender and somewhat arcuate, dilated at the apex, sometimes narrowly winged and obscurely 2-cornute, produced at the base into a foot. In section EUGONGORA: pedicels usually straight or slightly curved; the lateral sepals usually nearly twice as long as broad, strongly reflexed, the apex acuminate, the margins strongly reflexed, the bases inserted on the foot of the column; the dorsal sepal and the petals inserted on the upper column, their bases not connivent with those of the lateral sepals; the lip very fleshy, often laterally compressed, complexly 2-parted, with both a well developed hypochile and epichile; the base of the hypochile with or without short, lateral, rounded, ligular or auriculate callosities, the apical margin usually with 2 slender, erect antennae; the epichile usually with a gibbose or conical, basal projection above the basal constriction; column slender and somewhat arcuate, semiterete below, dilated above, without lateral wings, but with the inserted petals resembling stelidia; the base of the column produced into a foot. In both sections of the genus the anther is terminal, operculate, incumbent, 1-celled or imperfectly 2- celled; pollinia 2, waxy.
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Note
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A perplexing genus of American epiphytes ranging from southern Mexico to Peru and Brazil. The flowers are of exceedingly complex structure, in many cases almost impossible to describe, yet all too often type descriptions are unaccompanied by figures or if the figures are given they prove to be inadequate in one or several critical details. Of the many published names, perhaps about a dozen fairly wellmarked entities can be segregated, but even these often are subject to a considerable amount of variation. The treatment of variants of this type is a matter of individual opinion, past practice usually having been to regard them as distinct species which appear in the literature as of equal value. The principal objection to such a method is that it does nothing to express the often very apparent relationships of many of these so-called species to each other. Many groups of entities are found to be identical in nearly every major detail, often having, shall we say, a strong "family" resemblance, and differing only in the absence or presence or development of some one or two structural details. It would seem the obvious course to accentuate these similarities, rather than to obscure them. For the purposes of this treatment, it is proposed therefore to treat these relatively less important deviations from established types as varieties. On this basis, two species, and three well-marked varieties thus far have been found in Panama.
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Key
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a. Bases of all 3 sepals connivent (Section ACROPERA) b. Apex of the mesochile with 2 short lateral horns ................2. G. ARMENIACA var. BICORNUTA bb. Apex of the mesochile without 2 short lateral horns ........ 1. G. ARMENIACA aa. Base of the dorsal sepal inserted on the upper column, not connivent with the bases of the lateral sepals (Section EUGONGORA). b. Hypochile when seen from above relatively narrow, the base with lateral ligular projections .3. G. MACULATA bb. Hypochile when seen from above relatively broad, the base auriculate or with short lateral fleshy rounded horns. c. Basal callosities of the hypochile auriculate 4. G. MACULATA var. LATIBASIS cc. Basal callosities of the hypochile short, fleshy, rounded horns 5. G. MACULATA var. TRICOLOR
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