Stanhopea candida

Common Name - The Snow White Stanhopea

Anyone who has ever seen a Stanhopea orchid in bloom will find it hard to forget it ! Orchids of this genus donot boast a very showy morphology of their green parts ;all the more surprising it is to later see their green parts ; all the more surprising it is to later see their often gigantic and always bizarre looking fleshy flowers . The egg-shaped pseudobulbs of the species Stanhopea candida are slightly elongated in to a pointed tip and they bear a single ,up to 12 in /30 cm long stiff and lengthwise -waved elliptic leaf . The flower spike grows downward ,measures only 3.2 -4 in/8-10 cm and bears 1-3 pure white , 2.4 in / 6 cm across flowers with a bizare -shaped greenish lip . The morphology of the flower is discribed under Stanhopea sp. on p. 246 ,the cultivation rules are the same as with Stanhopea martiana . Somewhat out of the ordinary ,Stanhopea candida blooms in the spring . It comes from the lower altitudes of Bolivia ,Colombia and Venezuela .

Synonyms

Stanhopea eburnea var. nivea hort. ex Stein 1892; Stanhopea randii Rolfe 1894