Mt Picaho Panama
 

Summitted Mt Picacho, Panama yesterday, brutal route, no trails so bushwhacking all the way up and down (different route down). Took us 11 hours to go 5 km!

The summit of Picacho at about 9,850' is covered in a thick matt, 6' high, of a terrestrail orchid species which Ive not ID'ed yet (pic attached). Lots of other species in the area too including many micro orchids.

Sounds like lots of fun! I would love to do something like that one day.

I would recommend posting clear photos of both the flower and vegetative parts of the plant for ID purposes. This is almost always helpful when trying to ID wild orchids, in situ (along with location data and size information, which you provided).

I don't know of many 6ft / 2m tall terrestrial orchids native to the Americas. I'm having a hard time making out much detail in the photo, but I think we can rule out Selenipedium and Sobralia. So, I suppose my first instinct would be that this is some kind of Epidendrum or a closely allied genus.

Unfortunately it was an especially dificult hike, no trails, extremely dense cloud forest growth...it took us 4 hours to cover the initial 1km! As a result, getting good pics of the numerous orchid species there suffered. I would like to make the trek back up at some point just for that. Will post the pics I do have.

Based on photo #3 and assuming that's the same species as the original photo, I don't think that's an Epidendrum. However, I don't know of any other 6 foot tall terrestrials from that region, so I suppose I can't really help.

Photo #1 is something in the Pleurothallid alliance (maybe even Pleurothallis sp.) but that's a group I have very little experience with. Photo #4 is an Epidendrum (or closely allied genus, I don't keep up with that taxonomy).

#1 looks like it might be a Lepanthes, based on the "remains" of previous blooms behind the flower. #3 looks a lot like Specklinia endotrachys but I don't know if the location supports that ID.

IOSPE says Specklinia/Pleurothallis endotrachys occurs in Panama at high elevations and the flowers do look like a good match.

I was thinking the original photo and photo #3 look like the same species (though I could be wrong). If they are the same thing, though, the description of S. endotrachys (14 inch tall epiphyte) doesn't quite match up with Curtis2010's description of a 6 foot tall terrestrial.

Are there any giant sized relatives that you know of?

Thanks for the input!

There is at least one other 6'+ tall terrestrial in the region. It is very common. People grow it in their yards as an ornamental. I hate to admit Ive never ID'ed it...especial since I have some in my yard! :(

Pic attached.

Just to clarify the numbering references. Im starting with the originally posted individual photo as #1, then the second group posted starting with #2.

The originally posted photo (#1) and #4 are of the same variety.



---------- Post added at 07:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:22 PM ----------

It was brutal. Our objective was to scout a route between Mount Totumas Cloud Forest Lodge (awesome place, owned by a friend) and Mt Picacho...we failed miserably at that...no one in their right mind would attempt this route again. To be fair it is extremely challenging terrain and I dont think there is an easy route.

We just managed to snap a few phone pics of orchids along the way. The summit of Picacho is saturated with orchids, I would like to go back up again and just spend a couple of days there with better camera gear. The route up from the headquarters of La Amistad Park on the Panama side is not too bad, just overgrown remants of an old trail, but not bad. However, going out by any other route is brutal.

A link to a video sample of our day below. We did 3 rappelling pitches down the western face of Picacho then about 8 hours of this kind of bushwhacking to get to a logging road for a 1 hour hike out. I cant recall the last time I was so exhausted (...and I just did a 3 week trek to Everest Base Camp in October...piece of cake by comparison!)


Dropbox - VID-20181231-WA0003.mp4

Another orchid pic, not great for ID either unfortunately.

You mean pic #1 in post #3 correct?

Yes, the flower certainly looks like a Lepanthes.