Sobralia rogersiana Un monstruo maravilloso / Sobralia rogersiana a marvelous monster

Full text

Orquideología XXXII - 1 / junio - 2015
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Resumen: son ilustradas en una Lámina de
Disección Compuesta Lankester (LCDP, por sus siglas en inglés) a partir de
material vivo. Tanto científicos como aficionados han confundido estas popu-
lares especies Mesoamericanas por muchos años.
Palabras clave: Guatemala, México, Nicaragua, Orchidaceae,
Sobralia rogersiana
Un monstruo maravilloso
Robert L. Dressler.
Investigador senior Jardín Botánico Lankester, Universidad de Costa Rica.
Adam P. Karremans.
MSc. Ciencias vegetales investigador Jardín Botánico Lankester, Universidad de Costa Rica.
adam.karremans@ucr.ac.cr

Orquideología XXXII - 1 / junio - 2015
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Orquideología XXXII - 1 / junio - 2015
Fi Fig. 5. Una cápsula vacía de
, Guatemala. Kerry Dressler./
An empty capsule of ,
Guatemala. Kerry Dressler.
Fig. 6. Una cápsula jóven de
. Foto: Luis Sánchez Saldana del
especimen E. Martínez 15758 (MEXU)/ A
young capsule that we believe to be
. Photo: Luis Sánchez Saldana of
the specimen E. Martínez 15758
Fig. 7. Ilustración comparativa de las
cápsulas de A. S y B.
. Ilustración por Christina
M. Smith/ Comparative illustration of the
seed pods of A. S and B.
. Drawings by Christina
M. Smith.

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Christenson, E.
(2007). Notes on the Sobralia
macrantha complex. Orchideen Journal 14(4):
158-169.
Hamer, F.
(1974). Las Orquídeas de EI Salva-
dor / The Orchids of EI Salvador. Ministerio de
Educación, San Salvador.
Hágsater, E., M. A. Soto Arenas, G. A. Salazar
Chávez, R. Jiménez Machorro, M. A. López
Rosas & R. L. Dressler.
(2005). Las Orquídeas
de México / The Orchids of Mexico. Instituto
Chinoín. México.
REFERENCIAS BIBLIOGRÁFICAS
CRÉDITOS FOTOGRÁFICOS
A no ser que sean especificados, son del autor.

Orquideología XXXII - 1 / junio - 2015
Abstract: The large-flowered and are illus-
trated and compared using a Lankester Composite Dissection Plate (LCDP),
prepared from living material. Both scientists and enthusiasts have confused
these two popular Middle American species for many years.
Key words: Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Orchidaceae, ,
Sobralia rogersiana
a marvelous monster
In 2007 Eric Christenson described
a new species,
Christenson (from “country unk-
nown”) (Christenson 2007). It is an
impressive, monstrous, plant with
large flowers that last for several
days, and it grows to at least 2 meters
in height (6 feet, or 2 yards).
is now known from Guatema-
la, EI Salvador and Nicaragua, and it
may be in Honduras (Fig 1. and Fig.
2).
A Honduran colleague once mentio-
ned “the gigantic
Lindl.” in correspondence, but to be
honest, is scarcely big
enough to warrant the term “gigan-
tic”. He may have had
in mind. turns up oc-
casionally in Costa Rican gardens,
and we have seen plants that were
purchased in San Jose, but these
may have been Nicaraguan or Guate-
malan plants that somehow slipped
across the border. was
named in honor of Bruce Rogers, of
the San Francisco Bay area, who has
given special attention to this lovely
species. In California, one of the clo-
nes is known as “Bolen.”
(Fig. 3 and Fig. 4) is a
popular garden plant in parts of Mexi-
co, where there are at least a couple
of named clones, “Humo” and “Be-
lla Eusebia”. There is an excellent
photo of in page 63 of
Orquideas de Mexico (Hágsater et
al. 2005, fig. 131); see also the article
by Pérez García (2012).
is reported to be in Guatemala, and
Christenson cites a photo labelled as
in Hamer’s Orchids of
EI Salvador (Hamer 1974). But except
for this photo, every other illustration
labelled as in The Or-
chids of EI Salvador or The Orchids
of Nicaragua, appears to be
. Christenson points out that the
Robert L. Dressler.
Lankester Botanical Garden, University of Costa Rica.
Adam P. Karremans.
MSc. Plant Sciences Reserarcher University of Costa Rica. Lankester Botanical Garden.
adam.karremans@ucr.ac.cr

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yellow center of the flower of
is quite rounded in front, whi-
le in the pale center is
rather square or notched in front, and
the midlobe of is much
more deeply divided than that of
. Dressler first saw
in Guatemala when there was
an orchid show in the capital. After
the Orchid Show, Hector Castañeda,
Alfredo Mó Mó and Dressler traveled
a bit in Guatemala. One of us (at this
late date, we are not sure which one)
knew of Christensons’ then relatively
recent description of ,
and we were pretty sure that we were
finding plants of that species.
We saw quite a few plants, none with
flowers at that time but we did find
an empty seed capsule (Fig. 5). The
capsules are relatively short and wide
in strong contrast with a capsule that
we believe to be of (Fig.
6).
Eric van den Berghe reports that
in Nicaragua is to be found
in wet to semi-arid forests and in oak
forests, and that the plants flower twi-
ce a year, in July-August and Decem-
ber-January (van den Berghe, unp.).
He considers this unusually attracti-
ve species to be in need of protection.
However, one of the authors (AK) has
seen healthy populations of
on Cerro Apante in Matagalpa
province, Nicaragua.
Oddly enough, Fritz Hamer consis-
tently used the name
in EI Salvador and Nicaragua
(Hamer 1974, 1984), but in virtually
every case, he illustrated what was
later named as . The
flowers of the two species are quite
different, and we think that the capsu-
les of the two species are even more
distinctive in their size and structure
(Fig. 7).
Acknowledgments: We wish to thank
several persons: Alfredo Mo Mo, of
Cobán, Guatemala; Christina Smith,
who prepared the drawings, and Eric
van der Berghe, of Nicaragua, who
hasn’t visited us lately, but he knows
a lot about Nicaraguan orchids. We
must especially thank Luis Sánchez
Saldana, who kindly sent us one of
the images used. We are also thank-
ful to Franco Pupulin and Melania
Fernández for their comments and
suggestions on the manuscript.
See spanish version
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
PHOTO CREDIT
Unless they are specified are the author.