Guate Road Trip - Orchid Board

Curtis2010 · #1 11-21-2011, 10:23 AM

We planned to make a road trip a few days ago along a pipeline inspection road which is only passable during the dry season. It runs along the base of what is called locally "Sierra del Mico" (monkey mountain). We are nearing the normal end of the wet season and rainfall had decreased so we assumed rainy season was about over....well, not quite...it was just taking a break. It resumed of course right before we headed out on our road trip.

I had expected to come back with lots of interesting orchid pics, but our little adventure got cut short by rising water.

I did get a few interesting pics. Two of a couple of very common local varieties of orchids: one which I have not ID'ed yet and the other is a flowering Epidendrum Nocturnum. A couple more of a Catasetum with "cajones grande" (really big seed pods). The final pic, the one with lots of water and no orchids, is of the river (Rio Frio) that cut our trip short.

gnathaniel · #2 11-21-2011, 12:54 PM

Wow, thanks for sharing, Curtis! I love seeing pictures of orchids in-situ. And that sure does look like a scary river, I know someone whose car got washed away with her in it after she foolishly drove into water like that around here (she was rescued after a few hours but was understandably traumatized by the experience).

--Nat

Curtis2010 · #3 11-21-2011, 01:03 PM

Yes, very dangerous to attempt a crossing like that. Fortunately, I grew up in an area with frequent flooding and know better.

Curtis2010 · #4 11-21-2011, 01:18 PM

Glad you enjoyed it. I have quite a few more natural orchid pics that I will post soon -- either here or on the ID Forum.

Curtis2010 · #5 11-22-2011, 11:59 AM

As promised a few wild orchid pics attached...these are just some of the orchids which grow wild on my property.

Not sure of the ID's of most of them yet...so any suggestions would be appreciated.

flhiker · #6 11-22-2011, 07:33 PM

Very Cool. And to have them on your property. The first one is E. nocturnum. In the second picture there is a a orchid that is in the background with very long and fat bulbs that look similar to the cyrtopodium punctatum

Curtis2010 · #7 11-23-2011, 09:02 AM

Thanks for the ID suggestion. I will take a look.

Curtis2010 · #8 11-27-2011, 01:47 PM

Yes, the orchid you picked out from the background does have some similarities to the "cigar orchid" (cyrtopodium punctatum), but I don' think that's it (of course, as rank novice I could be wrong). It does have an elongated psuedobulb with overlapping bits of sheath -- both like the cigar orchid, but it is typically bi-foliate (most of the pics I have seen of cyrtopodium punctatum don't show much in the way of leaves -- I have not seen them in the wild). I think the pseudobulbs of cyrtopodium punctatum tend to be larger (although there is a lot of variance in size here between individuals of this type).

I've attached a few better pics which might make the ID easier. Included my hand in one for a size ref. As you can see in the last pic they grow in mats that cover the sides and roots of mangroves here.

Thanks and let me know what you think.

gnathaniel · #9 11-28-2011, 11:55 AM

Looks like a Myrmecophila (formerly Schomburgkia) of some kind. That mangrove shot is amazing!

--Nat

Curtis2010 · #10 11-28-2011, 06:16 PM

Very good! Definitely looks like a Myrmecophila to me. Not sure exactly which, but at least I've dramatically narrowed down the options.

None blooming here now, but they put out very long bloom spikes. Will try and post some pictures when they bloom.

As described in some of the literature there are ants which nest in the dead back-bulbs.

Thanks much.