Masdevallia bicolor Poepp. & Endl. 1837 SUBGENUS Polyantha SECTION Alaticaules SUBSECTION Alaticaules [Krzl.] Luer 1986
Photos by © Jay Pfahl
Plant and Flowers in situ Ecuador
Photo by © Lourens Grobler
Photo courtesy of Dale and Deni Borders
Photo courtesy of Patricia Harding
Drawings by Carl Luer
Common Name The Two-Colored Masdevallia
Flower Size 3/4" wide [2 cm]
Found in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia in wet montane forests low down on tree trunks at altitudes of 400 to 2100 meters as a mini-miniature to miniature sized, cold to warm growing, caespitose, epiphytic species with minute ramicauls concealed by imbricate, basal, tubular sheaths with an oblanceolate leaf with the petiole channeled and the apex is slightly bilobed with a conspicuous apicule that blooms in the spring through summer on an erect, 4" [10 cm] long, lateral, with 2 to 4 simultaneously or successive opening flowers per inflorescence that is held just below are just above the leaves and with 2 tubular, acuminate, shorter to longer than the ovary floral bracts.
The identifying characteristics of this species are the 2 flowered inflorescence, the 2 colored, long-caudate sepals, the carinate, bilobed petals and the papillose anther and turbinate pollina.
CAUTION The 2nd and 3rd photo of mine are most likely incorrect, notice the single flower and the lack of a bract that the flowers should arise from and the former flowers from previous blooming which this species does not do. The sepals also are very recurved, not a usual state of this flower.
"Masdevallia bicolor Poepp. & Endl. only has bicolored flowers with the dorsal sepal a shade of yellow or orange and the synsepal dark purple. The completely light yellow flower of M apoloae with short, thick tails immediately distinguishes it from the superficially similar A. bicolor. Other minor differences noted are the thickened veins of the lateral sepals, and a slight but distinct retrorse protrusion of the tip of the longitudinal callus of the petal at the base." Luer & Sijm 2012
Synonyms Alaticaulia bicolor (Poepp. & Endl.) Luer 2006; Masdevallia atropurpurea Rchb. f. 1854; Masdevallia aureo-rosea Weberb. 1911; Masdevallia auropurpurea Rchb.f & Warsc. 1854; Masdevallia biflora (Poepp. & Endl.) E. Morren 1873; Masdevallia herzogii Schltr. 1922; Masdevallia peruviana Rolfe 1906; Masdevallia subumbellata Kraenzl. 1925; Masdevallia xanthura Schltr. 1929
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1854 as M auropurpurea; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1855 as M auropurpurea; Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten V Bolivia Schlechter 1922 as M herzogii; Venezuelan Orchids Vol 5 Dunsterville & Garay 1966 drawing ok to the first photo; Venezuelan Orchids Vol 5 Dunsterville & Garay 1966 as M peruviana = M sprucei; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 3 1970 as M auropurpurea drawing ok; Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing ok; Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 as M peruviana = M sprucei; Orquideologia Vol 16 No 1 1983 as M atropurpurea; Systematics of Masdevallia Vol 2 Luer 1986 as Masdevallia auropurpurea; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Systematics of Masdevallia Vol 2 Luer 1986 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 290 Bennett & Christenson 1995 drawing ok; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 495 Bennett & Christenson 1998 as M auropurpurea drawing hmm; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 6 COS 1998 photo fide; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 2 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing ok; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XIX Systematics of Masdevallia Part 1 Luer 2000 drawings fide; Madevallia's in Kleur Vol 1 P M Oversteegen, Eisses & A P Sijm 2001 photo fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 Dodson 2002 drawing/photo fide; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXVIII Luer 2006 as Alaticaulia bicolor; Libro Rojo de Plantas De Colombia Vol 6 Primera Parte Saenz 2007; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Orchidaceae Masdevallia and Affiliates Dodson & Luer 2009 as Alaticaulia bicolor drawing ok; Las Orquideas del Peru Izerskyy & Bezverhov 2011 photo fide; An Illustrated Field Guide to the Orchids of the Yotoco Forest Reserve Colombia Kolanowska, Escobar, Sanchez & Szlachetko 2011 drawing/photo fide; Harvard Papers in Botany, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 333 to 368 2012 MISCELLANEOUS NEW SPECIES IN THE PLEUROTHALLIDINAE (ORCHIDACEAE) Carlyle A. Luer and Lisa Thoerle as Alatacaulia bicolor; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide;
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