Dracula (orchid)

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Dracula orchids
Dracula vampira
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Tribe: Epidendreae
Subtribe: Pleurothallidinae
Genus: Dracula
Luer, 1978
Species

See text.

The orchid genus Dracula, abbreviated as Drac in horticultural trade, consists of 118 species. The strange name Dracula, literally means "little dragon", referring to the strange aspect of the two long spurs of the sepals.[1]

They were once included in the genus Masdevallia, but became a separate genus in 1978. This genus has some of the more bizarre and well-known species of the subtribe Pleurothallidinae. The species which comprise this genus are among the most highly prized of all orchids in horticulture for their ever blooming habit and their large, bizzare, and colorful flowers. [2]

Contents

[edit] Description

These epiphytic and terrestrial species are distributed in Central America and the northwest Andes, almost half in Ecuador alone. They prefer shadow and an even, rather cold, temperature.

These caespitose orchids grow in tufts from a short rhizome, with a dense herb-like pack of stems. They lack pseudobulbs. On each stems grows one large, thin, plicate leaf with a sharply defined midrib. These glabrous, light to dark green leaves may be spongy, taking over the function of the missing pseudobulb. They are tipped with a mucro (a short tip).

The flower stalks grow either horizontally from the base of the plant or descend, often for great distances. A few species grow upright flower stalks. The long-tailed terminal flowers are basically triangular. The flowers are borne singly or successively. Three species (sodiroi, decussata/neisseniae, and papillosa) may have up to three simultaneously open flowers on a single stalk. In general, though, if there is more than one flower bud on the raceme, they open up with long intervals.

These flowers have a weird aspect, due to the long tails on each sepal. The petals are small and somewhat thickened. The lip is often quite large for a Pleurothallid and may resemble a mushroom or fungus. The fleshy basal part of the lip (hypochile) is cleft. The terminal part (epichile) is rounded and concave. The margins of the perianth are often fringed. There is a well-developed column with two pollinia. These plants can flower continuously year round in both habitat and cultivation. [3]

The plants themselves do not have an large stature generally, and most are small, unimposing, and herb-like in appearance in contrast to the very large flowers they tend produce in great abundance. [4]

Frog's Skin (Dracula chestertonii)

[edit] Cultivation

The large-flowered species Dracula polyphemus. The plant is blooming downwards through the side of a wire basket and growing in sphagnum moss.

The fabulous species in this genus and related genus Masdevallia are considered moderate to very difficult to maintain in cultivation depending on the species. The plants do not possess pseudobulbs and consist of a single leaf internode growing from a small, creeping rhizome. They are best accommodated in wire or wooden hanging baskets with their rhizome partially buried in sphagnum moss as many of them flower downwards either through their growing medium or produce downward, creeping flower spikes. [5]

Most of these plants are from high altitude cloud forests and require very cool conditions and abundant moisture throughout the year. They cannot tolerate dryness, low humidity, or excessive temperatures and the plants are very easy to kill. They will simply drop all their leaves and suddenly collapse if allowed to dry completely or are exposed to high temperatures.

Low humidity conditions or watering the plants with a water source which contains high levels of dissolved salts will result in the leaves yellowing and rapidly dying from the tips back to the rhizome. The plants should be provided with rain water or distilled water or a very pure water source. They should be fertilized regularly if flowers are desired. The plants bloom when they are fed regularly.

They are considered difficult, fussy plants in cultivation, but well worth the effort as many of them flower continuously year round and the flowers of many of these species are large and very showy. These species are all pollinated by fungus gnats in habitat and the flowers produce various fungal odors for most of the plants in this genus. [6]

[edit] Species

The species of Dracula have tentatively been divided in three subgenera, sections and subsections. The different series in the subsection Dracula are merely an attempt to classify these orchids.

  • Subgenus Dracula : This subgenus contains all the species of the genus except two exceptional species (D. sodiroi and D. xenos)
    • Section Andreettaea : Monotypic: Dracula andreettae
    • Section Chestertonia : two species: Dracula chestertonii, D. cutis-bufonis
    • Section Cochliopsida : Monotypic: Dracula cochliops
    • Section Dodsonia : Four species: Dracula dodsonii, D. insolita, D. iricolor, D. portillae
    • Section Dracula : largest section
      • Subsection : e.g. Dracula bella, D. vespertilio
      • Subsection Dracula :
        • Series Dracula : e.g. Dracula chimaera, D. tubeana, D. vampira
        • Series Grandiflorae-Parvilabiatae : e.g. Dracula gigas, D. platycrater
        • Series Parviflorae : e.g. Dracula houtteana, D. lotax
  • Subgenus Sodiroa : Monotypic: Dracula sodiroi
  • Subgenus Xenosia : Monotypic : Dracula xenos
Dracula cordobae
Dracula houtteana
Dracula sodiroi

[edit] Hybrids

  • Dracula × anicula (D. cutis-bufonis × D. wallisii) (Colombia).
  • Dracula × radiosyndactyla (D. radiosa × D. syndactyla) (SW. Colombia).

[edit] Footnote

  1. ^ Planet Arkive : Dracula orchid
  2. ^ Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids ISBN 0881922676
  3. ^ Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids ISBN 0881922676
  4. ^ Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids ISBN 0881922676
  5. ^ Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids ISBN 0881922676
  6. ^ Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids ISBN 0881922676

[edit] References

  • Luer, Carlyle A. 1978: Dracula, a New Genus in the Pleurothallidinae. Selbyana 2: 190-198.
  • Luer, Carlyle A. 1993: Icones Pleurothallidinarum X - Systematics of Dracula. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden Vol. 46.
  • Arkive : Dracula vampira

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dracula
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