Lycaste skinneri [Batem. ex Lindley] Lindley 1843 SECTION Lycaste

Photo by © Jay Pfahl

Another Flower

Photo by © Eric Hunt

Another Color

Photo by © Weyman Bussey.

Rose Variety

Photo by © Jean Claude George.

Rose with white lip speckled rose

Orange variety

Photo by © Greg Stennbeeke

to and EARLY

Common Name White Nun Orchid or in Guatemala Monja Blanca - Skinner's Lycaste [English Discoverer of species 1800's]

Flower Size to more than 6" [to more than 15 cm]

This is a warm to cold growing, large sized, epiphytic or lithophytic orchid from wet montane forests and pine-oak-liquidambar forests at altitudes of 1200 to 1800 meters that has ovoid, compressed pseudobulbs carrying several, apical, deciduous, plicate, elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate leaves, dropping in the autumn, from that time on the plant needs no water or fertilizer and should only be resumed with the emergence of the new growth and flowering in the winter and early spring. The inflorescence is erect, with a few at once, 6 to 12" [15 to 30 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence with the peduncle being concealed by inflated sheathing bracts. The flower is long-lasting, fragrant, and highly variable in size and color. This orchid is the national flower of Guatemala where it is known by the common name 'Monja Blanca' or white nun orchid, it is also found in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Synonyms Lycaste alba Cockerell 1919; Lycaste albida Hort 1892; Lycaste amabilis Hort. 1892; Lycaste jamesiana hort. 1889; Lycaste schoenbrunnensis Umlauft 1893; Lycaste skinneri f. virginalis (Scheidw.) Christenson 1996; Lycaste skinneri subvar. alba (Dombrain) A.H.Kent 1893; Lycaste skinneri var. alba Dombrain 1872; Lycaste skinneri var. albaviridis Mills. ex Oakley 2008; Lycaste skinneri var. armeniaca Rolfe 1892; Lycaste skinneri var. cobanensis Archila 2002 Lycaste skinneri var. gloriosa R.Warner & B.S.Williams 1885; Lycaste skinneri var. labelloalba Oakley 2008; Lycaste skinneri var. labelloflava Oakley 2008; Lycaste skinneri var. reginae B.S.Williams 1887; Lycaste skinneri var. superba T.Moore 1861; Lycaste skinneri var. virginalis (Scheidw.) Gajon-Sanchez 1930; Lycaste virginalis [Scheidw.]Lindley 1888; Maxillaria skinneri Lindl. 1840; *Maxillaria skinneri Bateman ex Lindley 1842; Maxillaria virginalis Scheidw. 1842

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Mexico and Guatemala Bateman 1843 as Maxillaria skinneri drawing fide; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 photo fide; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as L skineri var bella; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as L skinneri var delicatissima; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as L skinneri var reginae; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 sa L skinneri var superba; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 as L skinneri var reginae drawing good; AOS Bulletin Vol 26 #6 1957 photo fide AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 1 1958 drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 23 #4 1959 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 24 #8 1960 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 29 No 6 1960 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 24 #8 1960 as L virginalis photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 29 #10 1960 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 32 No 11 1963 as L virginalis photo fide; AOS Orchid Culture 1963 as L virginalis photo fide; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as L virginalis drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #4 1967; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 No 6 1967 as L virginalis photo fide; The Genus Lycaste Fowlie 1970; Las Orquedias De El Salvador Vol 2 Hamer 1974 as L virginalis drawing/photo ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 48 #9 1978 as L virginalis var alba photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 50 No 9 1981 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 50 #10 1981 photo fide; Las Orquedias de El Salvador Vol 3 Hamer 1981 drawing ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 51 # 12 1982 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 52 No 1 1983 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 52 #9 1983 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 53 No 4 1984 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 55 No 4 1986 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 56 No 6 1987 as L virginalis alba drawing fide; An Introdution to the Orchids of Mexico Wiard 1987 as L virginalis photo fide; Selbyana Vol 10 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 as L virginalis drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 55 No 2 1991 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 60 #1 1991 photo fide; ASOS Bulletin Vol 61 # 7 1992 photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 57 No 3 1993 drawing fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen lieferung 29 1777 - 1840 Brieger 1994 as L virginalis drawing fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen lieferung 29 1777 - 1840 Brieger 1994; AOS Bulletin Vol 64 No 4 1995 Photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 65 No 11 1996 drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 62 #1 1998 photo fide; Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 64 #2 2000 PHOTO FIDE; Icones Orchidacearum 5 - 6 Orchids of Mexico Part 2 - 3 Plate 611 Hagsater & Soto 2002 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 2 2006 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 # 3 2006 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 76 No 9 2007 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 71 #4 2007 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 No 8 2008; Lycaste, Ida and Anguloa The Essential Guide Oakley 2008; AOS Bulletin Vol 78 #3 2009 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 73 #1 2009 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 80 #4 2011 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 76 #1 2012 as L virginalis photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 77 #2 2013 as photo fide; Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 photo fide; Algunas Orquideas de Mexico Tomo 1 Suarez 2013 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 83 #8 2014 as L virginalisphoto fide; Orchid Digest Vol 81 #2 2017 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #3 2017 as L virginalis photo fide; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 as L virginalis photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 # 1 2019 as L virginalis photo fide;

Lycaste skinneri [Batem. ex Lindley] Lindley var alba 1843 Photo by Stephen R. Skoien and Rolfe Horticulture Web Page in Mountain View Hawaii

A white form.

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; AOS Bulletin Vol 47 #9 1978 as L virginalis var alba photo fide; Orquideologia Vol 13 No 3 1979 photo good; AOS Bulletin Vol 48 #9 1979 as L virginalis var alba photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 44 No 3 1980 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 55 No 5 1986 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 56 # 12 1987 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 64 No 4 1995 Photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 64 No 10 1995 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 62 #1 1998 photo fide; Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 7 2006 photo fideLycaste, Ida and Anguloa The Essential Guide Oakley 2008; Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 photo fide; Algunas Orquideas de Mexico Tomo 1 Suarez 2013 as L virginalis photo fide

Lycaste skinneri var semialba Section Macrophyllae Photo courtesy of Eric Hunt, plant grown by Walter Shinn.

A white and some color form.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------