Stanhopea platyceras

This very beautiful Colombian species is rarely seen in cultivation. Synonym: Stanhopea madouxiana Cogniaux ex Claes.

The plant pictured at left was grown at the Munich Arboretum and photographed by Dr. Guenther Gerlach.

It has received two AOS flower quality awards, and has been used in five hybrids registered with the RHS:
Stanhopea Augres (connata x platyceras);
Stanhopea Chocolate Vision (madouxiana x Spindleriana);
Stanhopea DiPozzi Capriccio (platyceras [madouxiana] x oculata);
Stanhopea La Fontaine (saccata x madouxiana);
and Coryhopea Gar-Land-Uz (Coryanthes bruchmuelleri x Stanhopea platyceras).

The images below were taken by Pedro Glucksmann on 5 March 2001 of a plant flowering in his collection in Caracas. We appreciate his support and permission to use the photos here.

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AOS Awards:

Stanhopea platyceras 'Diana' AM/AOS (84 pts)
Awarded at the Pereira International Orchid Show, Pereira, Colombia, 17 August 1995.
Exhibited by Diana Ramirez de Navarro, Manizales, Caldes, Colombia, S.A.

Two flowers and three buds on one inflorescence; sepals and petals old ivory with burgundy spots throughout; epichile and hypochile also old ivory color with burgundy spots coalescing on the hypochile and striated on the inside of the hypochile; column light chartreuse with same burgundy spots.

Natural spread 5.6 cm wide x 15.3 vertical; dorsal sepal 4.5 cm wide x 8.5 cm long; petals 2.8 cm wide x 7.4 cm long; lateral sepals 5.2 cm wide x 9.6 cm long; lip 3.2 cm wide x 8.2 cm long.

Helmut Bechtel, Phillip Cribb, Edmund Launert (1992) The Manual of Cultivated Orchid Species (Third Edition). The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 585p. [Text & photos: Acineta chrysantha, A. superba; Gongora galeata, G. quinquenervis; Stanhopea ecornuta, S. graveolens, S. hernandezii, S. oculata, S. platyceras, S. tigrina. Text only: Acineta gymnostele; Stanhopea wardii]

Rodrigo R. Escobar [ed.] (1992) Native Colombian Orchids, Volume 4: Porroglossum-Zygosepalum. Medellin: Compania Litografica Nacional S.A., pp. 456-616. [pp. 546-553: Stanhopea platyceras, reichenbachiana, impressa, oculata, connata, candida, avicula, shuttleworthii, wardii, panamensis, pulla]

Carlos Garcia Esquivel (April 1993) "Coryhopea Gar-Land-Uz," in: AOS Bulletin 62(4): 390-393. [Stanhopea platyceras x Coryanthes bruchmuelleri]

J. A. Fowlie, M.D. (May 1967) "Orchid Collecting in the Colombian Andes: Part I., Evolutionary Considerations," in: Orchid Digest 31: 139. [S. pulla and S. platyceras on cover]

J. A. Fowlie, M.D. (Oct. 1968) "Orchid Collecting in the Colombian Andes: Inferno-Paradiso on the Road to Jardines," in: Orchid Digest 32(8): 251. [S. platyceras]

Rudolf Jenny (June 2004) "The Genus Stanhopea. Part 2: S. nigripes to S. xytriophora," in: Caesiana 22, Supplement, pp. 146-291. Color & B&W photos, line-drawings, Italian/English, covers __ species, bibliography, checklist.

Rudolf Jenny (1997) "Stanhopea platyceras Rchb. f. und ihr "Albino"," in: Orchidee 48(1): 4-8.

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]

George Nicholson (Ed.), (1884?) "Stanhopea platyceras," in: The Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening, A Practical and Scientific Encyclopedia of Horticulture for Gardners and Botanists, Vol. 3, Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens.
[This series was published in 8 volumes, 1884-1888, each one containing 3 color chromolithographs of various flowers. Plates are 10" x 7.5"]

Pedro Ortiz V., Alfonso Martinez M., and Guillermo Misas U. (1982) Orquidea Ornamentales de Colombia (Ornamental Orchids of Colombia), Bogota: Carlos Valencia Editores. [Stan. connata, platyceras (Pl. 225), reichenbachiana, rodigasiana, shuttleworthii, wardii]

Mariano Ospina Hernandez (1958) Orquideas Colombianas / Colombian Orchids. Bogota: Publicaciones Tecnicas Ltda. [Stanhopea gibosa (gibbosa), guttulata, platyceras, suavis, tigrina, wardii]

Mariano Ospina H. and Robert L. Dressler (1974) Orquideas de las Americas. Bogota: Litografia Arco, 496p. [Stanhopea cirrhata (Fig. 163); connata, costarricensis (costaricensis), ecornuta, grandiflora, insignis, oculata, platyceras (Fig. 164); reichenbachiana, saccata, schuttleworthii (shuttleworthii), tigrina, wardii]

Reichenbach (1868) "Stanhopea platyceras," in: Gardeners' Chronicle: 7. [type publication]

Web References:

International Plant Names Index [IPNI], www.ipni.org.