Clamshell Orchid

Prosthechea cochleata

''Prosthechea cochleata'', formerly known as ''Encyclia cochleata'', ''Anacheilium cochleatum'', and ''Epidendrum cochleatum'' and commonly referred to as the Cockleshell Orchid or Clamshell Orchid, is an epiphytic, sympodial New World orchid native to Central America, the West Indies, Colombia, Venezuela, and southern Florida.
Black Orchid Black Orchid Black Orchid,Flowers,Orchids,Prosthechea cochleata

Appearance

Each oblong discoid pseudobulb bears one or two linear nonsucculent leaves. The flowers are unusual in that though the labellum is usually below the column in the orchids, in the members of ''Prosthechea'' the labellum forms a "hood" over the column. This makes the flower effectively upside down, or non-resupinate. Whereas the species usually has one anther, ''Prosthechea cochleata var. triandra'' is an endangered variety that has three anthers and is autogamous, allowing its existence in Florida where no appropriate pollinators appear to be present.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomPlantae
DivisionAngiosperms
ClassMonocots
OrderAsparagales
FamilyOrchidaceae
GenusProsthechea
SpeciesP. cochleata
Photographed in
Belgium
Costa Rica