The Banderas Bay region is home to some amazing flora and fauna, including a rich variety of orchids that are endemic to this area. We have lived in PV for over 20 years and wanted to share our list of orchids native to the area. We don’t think of this list as comprehensive by any means, and we would love to hear about your orchid finds and share them with PV Pulse’s readers. Enjoy!
BARKERIA PALMERI
Elevation: sea level to 1300 meters. Grows in the states of Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit, Sinaloa, and Guerreo. Lilac flowers 25 mm across. Reed-like stems and few leaves. Dark lilac lip. Can produce up to 100 flowers on a spike. Petals are rosy, lilac, and white. Blooms in winter.
BLETTIA PURPOREA
Common name: Purple blettia. Subterranean bulbs and palm-like leaves. Pink and lilac flowers range from 3 to 80 mm on a flower spike and have a deep lip with yellow keels in the middle. They flower between March and April.
CATTLEYA AURANTIACA
Elevation: sea level to 1600 meters in tropical and lower mountain rain forests. Cylindrical, elongated bulbs with fleshy, elliptical leaves. Flowers from late winter through spring. Its flowers are the smallest of the Cattleya specie, but they are fragrant and a beautiful red-orange color. Capable of self-pollinating.
CATTLEYA CITRINA
This orchid is endemic to southern Mexico. Small-sized bulbs with 2 to 4 acute gray-green leaves. Grows in the shade at elevations between 1300 and 2600 meters. Blooms in the spring to early summer. Its flower spike is about 20 cm long and has 1 to 2 citrus fragrant white and yellow flowers.
CATASETUM MACULATUM
Conic-shaped bulbs that grow in clusters. Their oblanceolate acute leaves are deciduous. Flowers are unisexual; usually a plant has either male or female flowers, but in some rare cases they have both which is very unusual for members of the Orchidaceae family.
ENCYCLIA AENICTA
Grows from central Mexico to Central America at elevations from sea level to 2000 meters. Conic-ovoid bulbs and acute to obtuse leaves. Flowers in spring and summer with long branched spikes that carry rich yellow, bronze, and red flowers.
ENCYCLIA TRACHYCARPA
Can be found only in Mexico in the states of Nayarit, Colima, and Jalisco in altitudes from sea level to 1300 meters. Bulbs are conic-ovoid and their leaves are acute. Flower from spring to summer. Flowers are green with white and purple stripes.
EPIDENDRUM CILIARE
Found as far north as Mexico, down through Central and South America in altitudes from 500 to 1000 meters. Leaves are elliptic obtuse, and in winter and early spring, they give beautiful white fragrant flowers.
LAELIA RUBESENS
Grows from Mexico to Central America at an elevation from sea level to 1700 meters. Bulbs are flat ovoid wrinkled and dark green in color. Leaves are oblong and V-shaped. Flower in winter, with sweet-smelling blooms that are pink in color with a purple center.
ONCIDIUM ALTISSIMUM
Elevation: sea level to 200 meters. Grows in many seasonally dry areas, such as southern Florida, northern Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America. Lip is very large, with a “callus.” Flowers usually have ruffled petals, and can be white, yellow, pink, or red.
ONCIDIUM CEBOLLETA
The name is intuitive – their fleshy, tubular, erect leaves look like cebolla (onion) leaves. Found in elevations between 150 to 1700 meters. It is said that the plant was used as a hallucinogen. Small, lively, yellow flowers with brown and red spots.
ONCIDIUM ENSATUM
Grows as far north as Mexico and as far south as Venezuela. Compressed bulbs with linear-lanceolate leaves. They flower throughout the year. Flowers are yellow with brown spots.
ONCIDIUM OESTLUNDIANUM
Grows at elevations of sea level to 1300 meters in the Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit, and Michoacan in forests, mangrove swamps, and lava flows. Small ovoid bulbs with a single oblong purple leaf. Flowers in late spring and summer, with only a few waxy flowers at a time.
SCHOMBURGKIA GALEOTTIANA
Elevation: 25 to 400 meters. Grow in the Mexican states of Jalisco, Guerrero, Michoacan, Morelos, and Colima, as well as in Guatemala. Grow high in trees in foothills near the Pacific. Thick, leathery, elliptical leaves. Flowers from late summer through autumn, with 10 to 15 lavendor or purple flowers at a time. White or yellowish lip.
VANILLA PLANIFOLIA
Widespread; found in tropical areas of the Americas and Asia, as well as in New Guinea and West Africa. Long, vine-like stems up to 35 meters long, with short, leathery, dark-green leaves. Large flowers with a sweet scent which can be white, cream, yellow, or green. The pod of one species has been used to make vanilla flavoring ever since the time of the Aztecs.
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