Native to Panama
Edited 30 March 2007
© Nina Rach
Originally published in Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis, Beihefte 17: 11. 1922.
Lectotype (LT): C.W. Powell 21, Panama: bei Panam City, in Tälern; auch längs der Hinterwässer des Gatun-Sees, ziemlich häufig (AMES-23770; ILT: AMES-23769, K, MO-955891, MO-961330). LT designated by Christenson, Lindleyana 6: 131 (1991). Photo of herbarium sheet at left.
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Drawing at right by Blanche Ames.
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Williams and Allen (1946; 1980) described this species as such:
"Erect or ascending, epiphytic or terrestrial herbs; the stems up to about 15 dm. long, simple, branching or producing new plants at the nodes, lepidote [rough, scaly] or furfurescent [?]. Leaves 5-20 cm. long and 2-6.5 cm. broad, elliptic to broadly elliptic-lanceolate [tapering to a pointed apex], acuminate, glabrous [smooth] or slightly furfurescent at the base dorsally; leaf-sheaths densely pubescent [covered with fine, soft hairs], lepidote or furfurescent, older sheaths appearing pustulate [blistered or pimpled]. Flowers purple to white. Sepals 4.5-6 cm. long and about 1.2-1.6 cm. broad, ligulate [strap-shaped] to lanceolate, acute, the laterals somewhat oblique. Petals a little shorter than the sepals and up to about 2 cm. broad, obtuse or acute. Lip 4-6 cm. long and 3-4 cm. broad, obovate [egg-shaped, narrower at base] or oblong-obovate, obtuse [rounded at apex], glabrous, apex undulate, with 2 small calluses [ibid.] at base. Column up to about 3 cm. long. Panama. ... closely allied to S. decora Batem. and to
S. sessilis Lindl. but seems to be distinct."
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Panama issued stamps featuring Sobralia panamensis on 16 March 1966. Souvenir sheets pictured at left, featuring stamps of (C345 & C347).
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Paul H. Allen (1958) "Sobralia Intermedia," in: Bull. Amer. Orch. Soc. 27(8):534-535.
Eric A. Christenson (1991) "________," in: Lindleyana 6:131. [determination of Sobralia panamensis lectotype].
Calaway H. Dodson & Piedad M. Dodson (1980) Orchids of Ecuador in: Icones Plantarum Tropicarum 4: 301--400.
Robert L. Dressler 1993. Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa Rica and Panama. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 374p.
Leslie A. Garay (1978) "225(1). Orchidaceae (Cypripedioideae, Orchidoideae, Neottioideae)," in: Flora of Ecuador 9: 1--305. [as Sobralia fenzliana]
Richard Evans Schultes and Arthur Stanley Pease (1963) Generic Names of Orchids; Their Origin and Meaning. New York: Academic Press, 331p. [drawing by Blanch Ames of Sobralia panamensis on p. 291, Plate S-10.]
Louis Otho Williams and Paul Hamilton Allen (8 March 1946) Orchidaceae, Flora of Panama Part III. Fascicle 2., pp. 107-246, in: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 33: 30. [Sobralia allenii, amabilis, bletiae, bouchei, callosa, fenzliana, fragrans, labiata, leucoxantha, lindleyana, panamensis , decora var. aerata , rolfeana, suaveolens , valida, warszewiczii, macrophylla]
Louis Otho Williams and Paul Hamilton Allen (reprinted 1980) Orchids of Panama. 590 pages. 1980 reprint of 1946 also includes "Checklist of the Orchids of Panama," by Robert L. Dressler. [pp.139-140]
International Plant Names Index [IPNI]
