Stanhopea hernandezii

(Kunth) Schlecter 1918

Native to Mexico

Edited 10 May 2007

Stan. hernandezii on cover of Caesiana Q1/93
Stanhopea hernandezii (Kunth) Schltr. is the type species in the genus and was first collected by Fernando Hernandez in Mexico (then "New Spain" - Nuevo Espana) in the 1570's. A line drawing of the species is pictured in Hernandez's De Rerum Medicarum Nova Hispaniae Thesaurus, published in 1628, with the flower identified as "Coatzonte Coxochitl". Kunth changed it to Anguloa hernandezii in 1815, and Schlechter moved it to Stanhopea hernandezii in 1918.

Rudolf Jenny published "The History of Stanhopea hernandezii"
("La storia di Stanhopea hernandezii") in Caesiana, the Italian Journal of Orchidology, Q1/93. The image at left depicts the cover of that issue.



Stanhopea devoniensis lithograph by Van Houtte

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The flowers are full and rounded, pale yellow, and uniformly spotted wine-red. The column is stippled with wine-red. It is a cooler-growing species, and although I have not had much luck with it on the Texas Gulf Coast, it seems to grow and bloom well above 1,000 ft.

At right is a lithograph published in 18__ by Van Houtte, labeled "Stanhopea devoniensis." This is actually Stanhopea hernandezii.

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Photo by Pedro Glucksmann

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The three photos of Stanhopea hernandezii at left, below, and on the following page were provided by Pedro Glucksmann of Caracas. The plant flowered 15 October 2000. Note the extra rosy coloration of the mesochile, as compared with the cover photo from Caesiana.

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Printed references:

Oakes Ames and Donovan Stewart Correll (September 25, 1953). Orchids of Guatemala, in: Fieldiana, Botany 26(2): 399-727. Chicago Natural History Museum. = Part II of the 1985 Dover Edition [pp. 528-538: Stanhopea devoniensis, compared with the Mexican Stanhopea hernandezii, ecornuta, Lewisae, oculata (a.k.a. Stan. cymbiformis), compared with Stan. wardii, quadricornis, saccata (a.k.a. Stan. Marshii; Stan. radiosa); graveolens]

Oakes Ames and Donovan S. Correll (March 1985) Orchids of Guatemala and Belize. New York: Dover Publications Inc., 779 (800)pp. [pp. 528-536, 755: Stanhopea devoniensis, S. Hernandezii, S. tigrina, S. ecornuta, S. Lewisae, S. oculata, S. quadricornis, S. saccata, S. radiosa, S. Marshii]

Helmut Bechtel, Phillip Cribb, Edmund Launert (Jan 1992) The Manual of Cultivated Orchid Species (Third Edition). The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 585p. [Text & photos: Stanhopea ecornuta, S. graveolens, S. hernandezii, S. oculata, S. platyceras, S. tigrina. Text only: Stanhopea wardii]

Photo by Pedro Glucksmann
Bernard Greer (Sept. 1998) The Astonishing Stanhopeas (the upside-down orchids). Sydney: Australian Orchid Foundation. 92 color pages, including 55 known species and five natural hybrids.

Fernando Hernandez (1628) De Rerum Medicarum Nova Hispaniae Thesaurus. Spain. [type publication, as "Coatzonte Coxohitl."

Rudolf Jenny (Q1 1993) "The History of Stanhopea hernandezii," in: Caesiana 1: ___.

Rudolf Jenny (Dec. 1993) "The Genus Stanhopea," in: AOS Bulletin 62(12): 1271-1277; includes the very useful "Preliminary List of Stanhopea Species." [photos of: Stan. shuttleworthii, hernandezii, jenischiana x connata, eccornuta, deltoidea, connata, candida, tricornis; Embreea rodigasiana; Stan. Mem. Paul Allen]

Rudolf Jenny (Dec. 2003) "The Genus Stanhopea. Part 1: S. anfracta to S. napoensis," in: Caesiana 21, Supplement. 200 color photos, 160 p., Italian/English, covers 32 species.

Photo by Pedro Glucksmann

Boris Aleksandrovich(Alexandrovic) Keller (19__) "Anguloa hernandezii," in: ______

George C. Kennedy (Sept.-Oct. 1975) "The Stanhopeas of Mexico," in: Orchid Digest 39(5): 178. [includes Stanhopea graveolens, hernandezii, maculosa, martiana, oculata, radiosa, saccata, tigrina]

Linda Kraus (April 1984) "The Culture of Stanhopeas -- Confessions of a Requited Lover," in: AOS Bulletin 53(4): 358-366. [S. connata, costaricensis, eburnea, ecornuta, frymirei, grandiflora, graveolens, hernandezii, oculata, rodigasiana, saccata, wardii, S. Assidensis, S. Memoria Paul Allen]

Karl(Carl) Sigismund Kunth (1815) "Anguloa hernandezii," in: _____

Rudolf Schlechter (1918) "Stanhopea hernandezii," in: Schltr. Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 36, Ab. 2: 490.


Web References & Photos:

The Stanhopea-site of Jitze Mud, Netherlands.

Natural History Museum of Florence - Botanical Garden

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Comments or questions? Send e-mail: stanhopea@autrevie.com

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