Oncidium altissimum

Oncidium altissimum
Illustration by Sarah Drake
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Genus: Oncidium
Species:
O. altissimum
Binomial name
Oncidium altissimum
(Jacq.) Sw. 1800
Synonyms[1]
  • Epidendrum altissimum Jacq.
  • Xeilyathum altissimum (Jacq.) Raf.
  • Oncidium forkelii Scheidw.
  • Oncidium wydleri Rchb.f.
  • Oncidium hannelorae Nir

Oncidium altissimum, Wydler's dancing-lady orchid,[2] is a species of orchid native to the West Indies (Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles), with an 18th-Century citation from Jamaica.[1][3]

This name should not be confused with the illegitimate homonym Oncidium altissimum Lindl. 1833, now considered a synonym of O. baueri native to South America.[4] The true Oncidium altissimum was first described in 1760 by Nicolaus Joseph von Jacquin with the name Epidendrum altissimum, citing Jamaica as the origin of the specimen he was describing .[3] Olof Swartz later transferred the species to Oncidium in 1800.[5]

  1. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Oncidium altissimum (Jacq.) Sw.
  2. ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "​Oncidium altissimum​". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  3. ^ a b Nicolaus Joseph von Jacquin. 1760. Enumeratio Systematica Plantarum, quas in insulis Caribaeis 30.
  4. ^ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Oncidium altissimum Lindl.
  5. ^ Swartz, Olof. 1800. Kongl. Vetenskaps Academiens Nya Handlingar 21: 240.