The Butterfly Psychopsis

Appearance

A medium sized, hot to warm growing, epiphytic species with flat, round, bilaterally compressed, brown, wrinkled pseudobulbs mottled with red blotches and carrying a single, apical, rigidly erect, oblong to oblong-elliptic, obtuse, dark green mottled with purple or red leaf that produces single flowers from a basal, 2 to 5 foot [60 to 120 cm] long, successive opening spike that has triangular bracts and can flower for years if left alone so do not cut them as they can alos produce plantlets.

Naming

Synonym: Oncidium papilio. Lindley.

Distribution

Species found in Trinidad & Tobago, Panama, French Guiana, Surinam, Venezuela, Colombia and Northern Brazil.

Habitat

Lower montane forests. Semi-terrestrial growth. It is found in hot and humid climates that go between the level of the sea and 1700 meters of altitude, growing in areas with high luminosity and blooming in the drier months.

Uses

Ornamental.