Native to Colombia.
Edited 15 May 2007
© Nina Rach
Original publication in Orquideologia; Revista de la Sociedad Colombiana de Orquieologia, Medellin; no. 4: 19 (1967).
According to Jenny (1993), the plant was "discovered by Dodson in 1965 in the collection of Dona Ospina in Fusagasuga" and named for her (note the feminine -ae ending).
Jenny says the species is "closely related to
Stanhopea gibbosa from Costa Rica but differs from this by the form of the hypochile."
It is endemic to the area of Fusagasuga in the Department of Cundinamarca in Colombia; found at approx. 1800 m elevation in moist cloud forest.
Flowers are yellow-orange to pale orange, hypochile darker, with distinct dark eye spot. Sepals and petals have small, randomly scattered, burgundy spots. Horns are short and plump.
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Photo at left taken by Nina Rach, 16 July 2002, Houston, Texas.
Plant in the collection of Dave Hunt.
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Another famous Ospina in the orchid world:
Dr. Mariano Ospina H., a native Colombian who worked at Caja Agraria (Colombia's largest development bank), as a Senator, and as a member of the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991. Dr. Ospina received degrees from MIT and Harvard University, and is a Research Associate at Harvard University (School of Arts and Sciences). He has authored several books, including
Orquideas Colombianas/ Colombian Orchids (1958); and
Orchids and Ecology in Colombia: To the Rescue of Paradise (1996).
Calaway H. Dodson (1967) [Stanhopea ospinae] in: Orquideologia; Revista de la Sociedad Colombiana de Orquieologia, Medellin; no. 4: 19.
Calaway H. Dodson (1972) [Stanhopea ospinae] in: Orquideologia 7: 25.
[Reference according to Jenny 1993]
Rodrigo R. Escobar [ed.] (1998) Native Colombian Orchids, Volume 6: Supplement Leucohyle-Zootrophion. Medellin: Compania Litografica Nacional S.A., pp. 847-1069. [pp. 1022-1033: Stan. cf. costaricensis, ospinae, stevensonii, wardii, jenischiana, posadae, shuttleworthii, candida, annulata, pulla, avicula, tricornis, impressa, xherrenhusana, reichenbachiana]
Rudolf Jenny (Jan-Feb-Mar 1993) 'The Genus Stanhopea in Colombia,' in: Orchid Digest 57(1): 17.
[S. annulata, candida, connata, florida, grandiflora, x herrenhusana, impressa, jenischiana, oculata, ospinae, platyceras, pulla, reichenbachiana, rodigasiana, shuttleworthii, tricornis, wardii;
color photo of Stanhopea ospinae, by Dr. George Kennedy on pg. 24.]
Mariano Ospina H. (1996) Orchids and Ecology in Colombia: To the Rescue of Paradise. 228 pp. + Appendix 4: List of Orchid Species Registered for Colombia.
International Plant Names Index [IPNI],
www.ipni.org.
Excellent photo of 4-1/2-in. natural spread flowers at IOSPE.
