I got this from Ecuagenera about 2 years ago. But it was mislabelled as Masdevallia melanoglossa. Well, these two species aren't similar to each other (other than similarity in the name), so I think they just screwed up at the packing stage. Mislabelling could be frustrating, but I don't really get upset too much. In this case, it got something interesting which I wouldn't have gotten intentionally, so I'm not complaining.
Masdevallia melanoxantha seems to be somewhat similar to M. scobina. I try to use the key in Icones Pleurothallidianarum 19 by Carl Luer. But the differentiating feature of M. melanoxantha and M. scobina is a bit confusing to me. This is the key:
- M. scobina: Pedicels far exceeding the floral bracts; dorsal sepal thick, verrucose
- M. melanoxantha: Pedicels barely exceeding the floral brats; dorsal sepal slender, not verrucose.
I'm showing the pedicel of my plant above. The pedicel of mine seems to be longer than the floral bracts, but it may not be as long as the illuatraion of M. scobina. I wouldn't call the dorsal sepal to be verrucose. Finally the side lobe of the lip looks more similar to the illustration of M. melanoxantha (see the links to illustration below). By looking at internet photos of these two species, it doesn't seem to match well with the key, neither. Maybe some of the photos on the internet miss-ID'd? Overall, I think that mine is M. melanoxantha. Any opinion about the difference?
Below, I'm including the illustration found from Swiss Orchid Foundation database. First, M. melanoxantha:
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| Masdevallia melanoxantha Linden & Rchb.f. from C. Luer. 2000. Icones Pleurothallidinarum XIX. ©Missouri Botanical Garden. 2000. Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz. Botanical Institute, University of Basel, Switzerland. |
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| Masdevallia melanoxantha Linden & Rchb.f. from C. Luer and R. Escobar. 2000. Thesaurus Masdevalliarum. ©Missouri Botanical Garden Press. 2000. Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz. Botanical Institute, University of Basel, Switzerland. |
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| Masdevallia scobina Luer & R. Escobar from C. Luer. 2000. Icones Pleurothallidinarum XIX. Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz. Botanical Institute, University of Basel, Switzerland. |
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| Masdevallia scobina Luer & R. Escobar from C. Luer and R. Escobar. 2000. Thesaurus Masdevalliarum. ©Missouri Botanical Garden Press. 2000. Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz. Botanical Institute, University of Basel, Switzerland. |
M. melanoxantha is found in northeastern cordillera of Boyaca and Norte de Santander Colombia and in western Venezuela while M. scobina is only found in Colombia's western cordillera.
This is the first bloom under my care. When I received it, it was a bit stressed, but it did start to grow after 2-3 months after dropping a couple leaves, and making leaves much smaller than the leaves it had. It was initially growing slowly, but once the roots started to fill the pot, it picked up the pace, and it has been growing at a moderate speed for Masdevallia. Compared to other orchids, many Masdevallia seem to grow rapidly, so moderate speed for Masdevallia is much faster than other orchids. I'm growing it next to other Masdevallia (the growth condition is described in a post about M. lychnifora).
The flower has an interesting, velvet-like texture, and the sepals are pretty thick. Below, I'm showing a couple of details of floral parts.
This is looking the lip from the bottom. You can see 2 yellow petals sandwiching the column behind the lip.
The lip. The side lobe of the lip can be seen (not a good angle to see the shape, though).
The leaves are about 7-8cm in length. It produces robust inflorescence (about 30 cm). The cross section of the stem is triangular. The leaves are very thick. The size of leave has been increasing, but they aren't as big as the originals. Maybe the growth condition is influencing the size.
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