A entirely new genus and species of slipper orchid
 

Makaropedium luteo-viridis Colorado has just been described. It hails from the northern slopes of the mountains of Gran Canaria and is the first slipper orchid found in the macaronesian region. Got this pictures through a friend in the spanish orchid forum.
Hope you like them as I did!

Beautiful

This is unbelievable. The Canary Islands have been inhabited for centuries. How could such a plant have gone undetected for so long?

Is it described in any journals?

Gracias por la noticia!

see also
https://artjardines.wordpress.com/20...ew-to-science/
published in
Beiträge zur Flora der makaronesischen Inseln, in: Annalen d. gr. Fugs, Acta Botanica, Bd. 19-21, S. 174ff; 1. April 2015

Seems to be a German publication. Good luck getting hold of it. It is a monotypic genus, which is always suspicious IMHO. Will be interesting seeing it added to a proper phylogeny.

Well, or is this an April fools joke? Annalen d. gr. Fugs, could be an allusion to Unfug, which is something like a practical joke in German.

Looking at the photos in the source material, the free standing plants look like Daffodils, while the plants obscured by other plants look sorta like Phragmipediums. However, all the flowers look like they are made out of paper.

The color pattern appears to be identical from flower to flower, so I am voting for an elaborate April Fools prank.

Exploring the web site further, it is a blog, not a scientific magazine. The 'About' links to the purported new genus. In the photo gallery, there are a few photos of Phrags, so the author has access to the material needed for a hoax.

Awesome!

Here is the site that had the pictures of those flowers. There are a few more pictures and the article is dated April 1, good one.

https://artjardines.wordpress.com/20...ew-to-science/

I am sort of in the "I want more proof" group myself - I would love it if this were factual, but the photos look really staged, with exposed roots laying out on the ground (look close - in a couple of pics the roots look like they are in a one-gallon pot-shaped clump and do not appear to be attached to anything. Plus, they plants look suspiciously like daylilies - justsayin'), the actual plants either in shade or behind other plants and no close-ups. If I were close enough to snap those pics, I would have gotten a LOT closer! Plus, I am almost certain I have seen those blooms at HobbyLobby or somewhere similar - they look like laser-printed silks.
Sorry, I'm not convinced.....

Ever hear if this was true???

Googling the "genus & species" name, I only come across web entries that are very close to April 1 (within a couple weeks). There are very few posts on the subject. Without more evidence to the contrary, I agree with others - this seems to be an April fools prank.

I'd be glad to be proven wrong . . . it has happened many times before!