''Cattleya iricolor'' is a species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

native to the eastern montane forests of

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Description

''Cattleya iricolor'' is an

epiphytic An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

orchid with slightly compressed

pseudobulb In botany, a pseudobulb is a storage organ found in many epiphytic and terrestrial sympodial orchids. It is derived from a thickening of the part of a stem between leaf nodes and may be composed of just one internode or several, termed ''heter ...

s with a single terminal leaf each. The leaves are narrow, up to 35 cm long and 3 cm wide. Flowers are very fragrant, creamy white or yellowish, 8 cm across in size, with long and narrow petals and sepals, pointy

lip The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...

; up to 6 flowers per pseudobulb.

Distribution and habitat

''Cattleya iricolor'' grows in Peru and Ecuador in montane forests of the eastern Andes at elevations of ca.1000 m.

Conservation

The conservation status of ''Cattleya iricolor'' is assessed as vulnerable since 1997 by the IUCN.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q15079718 iricolor Flora of Ecuador Flora of Peru