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| Stanhopea hernandezii |
For a long time I thought of
Stanhopea hernandezii as a sort of junior sized version of
Stanhopea tigrina, that mastodon of the stanhopeas
. Both give the impression of a massive cranium and formidable tusks. But it wasn't until this summer when we flowered both species simultaneously that I was able to compare them side by side.
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| Stanhopea tigrina |
In profile, it's easy to see that the the bottom of the hypochile is rounded like a bowl in
hernandezii, but flattened in
tigrina.
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| Stanhopea tigrina, a second color form |
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| Stanhopea hernandezii, dorsal view |
The horns are round in cross section and slender in
hernandezii, but flattened and broad near the base in
tigrina.
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| Stanhopea tigrina, dorsal view |
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| Stanhopea tigrina, dorsal view |
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| Stanhopea hernandezii, lip and column |
Notice the striking difference in the columns of the two species:
hernandezii's narrow column compared with
tigrina's broadly winged column.
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| Stanhopea tigrina, lip and column |
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| Stanhopea tigrina, lip and column |
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| Stanhopea hernandezii, lip |
With the column removed you can see how much broader the epichile is in
tigrina than in
hernandezii.
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| Stanhopea tigrina, lip |
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| Stanhopea tigrina, lip |
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| Stanhopea hernandezii, lip in ventral view |
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| Stanhopea tigrina, lip in ventral view |
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| Stanhopea tigrina, lip in ventral view |
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| Stanhopea hernandezii, column |
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| Stanhopea tigrina, column |
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| Stanhopea tigrina, column |
Stanhopea hernandezii and
tigrina are both endemic to Mexico.
S.
hernandezii occurs on the southwestern slopes of the Mexican plateau at about 1,600 to 2,000 meters elevation in the states of Morelos, Mexico and Michoacan. I can't find referennce to a specific pollinator for
hernandezii. The largest fragrance components measured by Gerlach (in Lankesteriana 2010) are cinnamyl acetate (64%) and benzyl acetate (11%).
Stanhopea tigrina is known from the eastern slopes of the plateau at about 1200 to 1800 meters in the states of Tamaulipas, Hidalgo, Puebla and Vera Cruz. Its pollinator is
Euglossa viridissima. The chocolate fragrance described so often in the literature (but which I cannot discern in our plants) derives from the combination of phenylethyl-acetate, a primary component of the fragrance, and vanilline, one of the secondary components, according to Rudolf Jenny.
Our
S. hernandezii, which we received from a commercial nursery as
S. ecornuta, flowered in August and probably won't be on display again until next summer. On the other hand, we have quite a few
S. tigrina in our collection. The flowers only last about three days, but it's definitely worth stopping by to try to catch them when they flower in August and September. They are magnificent.
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