I got this plant from Mundiflora fairly recently (October, 2015) . When I received it, it was a single growth plant with fruits attached to it (see the photo at the end of this post). It quickly produced 3 or so new growths, and the original growth seemed to have faded away. This was supposed to be a much showier species, Ponthieva maculata. When the flower opened, it was obviously mislabelled. Flipping through IOSPE, I found that min is very similar to Ponthieva collantesii (IOSPE link). But I'm not 100% sure about the identification yet. The botanical illustration of this species can be found in Swiss Orchid Foundation (link). The shape of the lip seems to be slightly different; in the illustration, the tip of the lip looks very narrow, but my plant (and the photo in IOSPE) has broader/less sharp tips. The lip is the top part in the photo above.
Christenson in Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum 3: pl. 556 (1998).
According to Tropicos (link), this species was originally described by David E. Bennett Jr. and Eric A.
I looked around more information, but there isn't much. The only useful information I could found is from:
Ulloa Ulloa, C., J. L. Zarucchi y B. León. 2004. Diez años de adiciones a la flora del Perú: 1993-2003. Arnaldoa Edición Especial Nov. 2004: 1–242. (PDF is available from Missouri Botanical Garden or link to Biodiversity Heritage Library).
Here is the relevant section:
Ponthieva collantesii D.E. Benn. & Christenson, Icón. Orchid. Peruv. 3: pl. 556. 1998.
Tipo: Perú. Cusco: Urubamba, Santuario Histórico de Machupicchu, Camino Inca toward Phuyupatamarca, 3000 m, 11-V-1998, Collantes ex Bennett 7821 (HT: USM).
So it is saying that the type specimen was found in Peru, Cusco, Machu Picchu Historical Sanctuary, located in Urubamba town in Cusco region, Peru, toward Phuyupatamarca Inca Trail, elevation of 3000m, and the collection date is May 11, 1998.
From this locality information, I found the climate information of Machu Picchu in this link. Daily maximum and minimum temperature is 20-22/8C (68-72F/46F) in the summer. In the winter, daily maximum is around 20C (68F), but the minimum can go down to near freezing (1C = 34F). Rainy season is during the summer (April to October of Southern hemisphere), and the winter seems to be pretty dry. Now, this makes sense that the plant was doing better in the winter time. And now the temperature is warmer, so the plant in the following photo doesn't look as good as it was last winter. I think I need to move it to a cooler area.
From this locality information, I found the climate information of Machu Picchu in this link. Daily maximum and minimum temperature is 20-22/8C (68-72F/46F) in the summer. In the winter, daily maximum is around 20C (68F), but the minimum can go down to near freezing (1C = 34F). Rainy season is during the summer (April to October of Southern hemisphere), and the winter seems to be pretty dry. Now, this makes sense that the plant was doing better in the winter time. And now the temperature is warmer, so the plant in the following photo doesn't look as good as it was last winter. I think I need to move it to a cooler area.
I didn't know how to grow Ponthieva, but I found Marni Turkel's post about her culture in Orchids Forum (link here, message #8), and got some advise from her. For the media, I'm using Sphagnum moss: Coarse Perlite : Medium bark : Peat = 2:1:1:0.5. Medium bark is just cheap bark sold for garden mulch, and I sifted the mulch to separate them into different sizes (Medium, small, and junk/dust). So the media stays fairly moist. I still don't know how to grow this plant, so I'll try to update the culture info in a couple years (if it is still alive).
This is how it looked when I received it. The left brown stick in the photo above is the original inflorescence in the photo below. Now I realize that the leaf color became yellower, compared to the original leaves. Maybe it is stressed due to too warm temperature?
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