Lou Menezes


talks about a new occurrence in Bahia:
Stenia pallida
Foto/Photo: Sergio Araujo




 



 
 
Stenia pallida
   
 
The genus Stenia Lindley has its geographic center of irradiation in Peru with the occurrence of nine species.
Stenia pallida Lindley is found is in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela and Guyana.
The literature concerning the citation of Brazil only mentions the possibility of this species to be found in the border areas with the mentioned countries.
The discovery of this species in the south of Brazil, as epiphytic plant in mountainous regions with high atmosphere humidity, was surprising although this region of Bahia is known by having many botanical elements from Amazonas in its native vegetation. This would explain the hypotheses that in a distant past, the Amazonica Forest would extend, at least, until the Brazilian southeast.
   
 
Mapa: IBGE



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Know a little more about the genus Stenia
by

Delfina de Araujo
  



Stenia Lindley
Tribe: Maxillarieae
Subtribe: Zygopetalinae
Etymology:
From the Greek "stenos" which means narrow and according to Shultes, the name refers to the pollinias of the species-type of the genus, Stenia pallida Lindley, which are long and narrow

In l837 Lindley described the genus based on a plant collected in Guyana.
Epiphytic plant, there are eight known species and they are distributed from Trinidad to Bolivia. It occurs in Andean South America, Peru, Ecuador and also in Brazil and Guyana.
Stenia pallida occurs from the West Indies to Bolivia included Guyana, Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil (State of Amazonas). The flowers can reach 4cm across.
The petals and sepals are yellow greenish and the shoe shaped lip is yellow and red spotted inside. The lateral single flower arises from a short stem.
In Colombia, it occurs on the warm mountainous country. In Brazil, it occurs in the Amazon region.

Bibliography: Native Colombian Orchids, Volume 4, Colombian Orchid Society (Pedro Ortiz V)
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids - edited by Alec Pridgeon
Orchidaceae brasilienses, vol II - Guido Pabst and Dungs
Dicionário etimológico das orquídeas do Brasil, Pe. José Gonzáles Raposo, CPMF