Mystery Wild Costa Rican Orchid

[Connie Star]

We were hiking recently on the flanks of Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica at perhaps 3000-4000 feet when we saw this orchid growing on a dead tree stump covered with epiphytes. it's an area that gets a lot of rain. As you can see it was very tiny and had unusual ranked leaves. Does anybody have an idea what it might be? I'm not even sure what sub-family or genus to put it in.

[MrHappyRotter]

Appears to be a Lockhartia species. It's a genus I'm not intimately familiar with, but a quick google search shows Lockhartia hercodontha and others as being fairly similar.

[Roberta]

Or a Dichaea perhaps? Flower shape and leaves look right, no idea which one... take a look through Internet Orchid Species Photo Encyclopedia and see if you can find a match.

[Optimist]

Gosh, I've seen it before. I have a 300 page orchid encyclopedia I will look through this week-- see what I can find.

[Ray]

Almost certainly Lockhartia hercodonta.

Nice to hear from you again, Connie. Hope all is well.

[DeaC]

Looks like Lockhartia foliage as mine. Great find.

[Connie Star]

Originally Posted by MrHappyRotter

Appears to be a Lockhartia species. It's a genus I'm not intimately familiar with, but a quick google search shows Lockhartia hercodontha and others as being fairly similar.

That looks like a good possibility. THanks

---------- Post added at 05:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:01 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Ray

Almost certainly Lockhartia hercodonta.

Nice to hear from you again, Connie. Hope all is well.

I've been spending the winters in Costa Rica for the past 5 years, since I retired. Dividing my home between 2 places has meant I can't keep a large collection in either place but it is certainly fun looking for wild orchids here in CR.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Very cute little orchid, thanks for sharing.