| Dracula vampira | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Orchidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Epidendroideae |
| Genus: | Dracula |
| Species: | D. vampira |
| Binomial name | |
| Dracula vampira | |
| Synonyms | |
Masdevallia vampiraLuer | |
Dracula vampira is an epiphytic orchid species, endemic to Ecuador. [2]
The orchid has large distinctive flowers; the sepals are rounded with the top corner pulled into a thin tail, which may extend up to 11 cm in length. Although green in colour, the sepals are covered by numerous blackish purple veins and the tails are almost completely black. The large sepals dwarf the petals and lip of the flower, which are white in colour and marked with purple and pinkish veins respectively. Dracula vampira is a large epiphyte, meaning that it does not grow in soil, it has many stems; the erect leaves are between 15 and 28 cm long. [3] The generic name of this species - Dracula means little dragon, refers to the flower resembling a hooded vampire. [4]
Dracula vampira is endemic to Ecuador in South America being found only on the slopes of Mount Pichincha. [3] It is found between 1900 and 2200 metres above sea level, [5] where it is fairly locally abundant. [3]
As an epiphyte D. vampira does not grow in soil, instead it grows on the lower sections of trees on the forested mountainside; many plants may accumulate on damp, leaf litter. [3] [6]
Dracula vampira was classified as Vulnerable on the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants, [7] (although this status no longer applies [8] ) and listed on Appendix II of CITES, together with almost all orchids. [1] It is popular in cultivation for its extremely dramatic, large flowers. [4]
A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level, formally described in the International Cloud Atlas (2017) as silvagenitus. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, in which case they are also referred to as mossy forests. Mossy forests usually develop on the saddles of mountains, where moisture introduced by settling clouds is more effectively retained.
Stelis, or leach orchids, is a large genus of orchids, with perhaps 500 species. The generic name Stelis is the Greek word for 'mistletoe', referring to the epiphytic habit of these species. These mainly epiphytic plants are widely distributed throughout much of South America, Central America, Mexico, the West Indies and Florida. Stelis is abbreviated Ste. in the horticultural trade.
The orchid genus Dracula, abbreviated as Drac in horticultural trade, consists of 118 species native to Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The name Dracula literally means "little dragon", an allusion to the mythical Count Dracula, a lead character in numerous vampire novels and films. The name was applied to the orchid because of the blood-red color of several of the species, and the strange aspect of the long spurs of the sepals. The plants were once included in the genus Masdevallia, but became a separate genus in 1978. This genus has been placed in the subtribe Pleurothallidinae.
Phragmipedium kovachii is an orchid species found to be new to science in 2001, native to the Andean cloud forests of northern Peru. A species with terrestrial habit and growing in clumps of several individuals, it displays showy pink to purple flowers up to 20 cm (8 in) wide. It is currently considered a critically endangered species by the IUCN, due to overcollection in the wild.
Anacamptis morio, the green-winged orchid or green-veined orchid, is a flowering plant of the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It usually has purple flowers, and is found in Europe and the Middle East.
The ornamental orchid species Phalaenopsis hieroglyphica is native to certain islands of the Philippines. Its flowers are creamy white with transverse markings that resemble glyphs. Through hybridization, growers have successfully created flowers with different shapes and colors while retaining the glyphs. Since 1975, the species has been protected under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Restrepiella ophiocephala, commonly called the Snake's head restrepiella is an epiphytic orchid native to Mexico, Central America, Colombia, and Florida. The epithet ophiocephala is derived from the Greek words ὄφις, ophis (snake) and κεφαλή, kephalē (head).
Alocasia sanderiana, commonly known as the kris plant or Sander's alocasia, is a plant in the family Araceae. It is endemic to Northern Mindanao in the Philippines, but is commonly grown as an ornamental plant worldwide. It is classified as critically endangered in the wild by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Nepenthes lingulata is a tropical pitcher plant endemic to northern Sumatra. The species is characterised by the highly developed appendage present on the underside of the lid. The specific epithet lingulata is derived from the Latin word lingula, meaning "small tongue", and refers to this unique morphological feature.
Castilleja ecuadorensis is a species of plant in the paintbrush genus (Castilleja), part of the broomrape family (Orobanchaceae). It is endemic to Ecuador where it grows at very high elevations, above 3,000 meters, in wet meadows. It was only scientifically described as a species in 1984.
Dendrobium kingianum, commonly known as the pink rock orchid, is a flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It usually grows on rocks, rarely as an epiphyte, and has thin, spreading leaves and spikes of up to fifteen, usually pink flowers in late winter to spring. It is popular in Australian native horticulture and is a commonly cultivated orchid among Australian orchid species growers.
Crepidium, commonly known as 沼兰属 or spur orchids is a genus of about three hundred species of orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Plants in this genus are evergreen, mostly terrestrial plants with short stems lying on the ground, two or more relatively large, pleated leaves and small, non-resupinate flowers with spreading sepals and petals. The genus is widely distributed in the tropics.
Epidendrum microphyllum is a species of tropical orchid in the genus Epidendrum with non-resupinate flowers.
Cattleya maxima is a species of orchid in subfamily Epidendroideae found from Ecuador to Peru.
Dracula diabola is a species of orchid that only grows in a single valley in the Boyacá Department, northeast of Bogotá, Colombia. Its specific epithet, diabola, comes from diabolus, the Latin word for devil. The plant is an epiphyte growing at an altitude of 2200–2600 m in the Eastern Cordillera.
Restrepia guttulata, commonly called the small-spotted restrepia, is a species of orchid occurring from Venezuela to Ecuador.
Vanda sanderiana is a species of orchid. It is commonly called Waling-waling in the Philippines and is also called Sander's Vanda, after Henry Frederick Conrad Sander, a noted orchidologist. The orchid is considered to be the "Queen of Philippine flowers" and is worshiped as a diwata by the indigenous Bagobo people.
Masdevallia goliath is a species of epiphytic orchid native to northeastern Peru and southeastern Ecuador but is cultivated as an ornamental elsewhere. It grows in nature in cloud forests at elevations over 1500 m.
Malaxis seychellarum is a species of orchid endemic to the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. First described in 1902, it is now considered a vulnerable species.
Dendrobium schuetzei, sometimes called Schuetze's dendrobium, is a species of orchid endemic to northeastern Mindanao, Philippines. Though widely grown as an ornamental, it is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to habitat loss and unsustainable harvesting from the wild.
This article incorporates text from the ARKive fact-file "Dracula vampira" under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GFDL .
Media related to Dracula vampira at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Dracula vampira at Wikispecies