Peristeria elata

Species of orchid

Peristeria elata

Flower of Peristeria elata

Conservation status

CITES Appendix I (CITES)[1]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:  | Plantae
Clade:  | Tracheophytes
Clade:  | Angiosperms
Clade:  | Monocots
Order:  | Asparagales
Family:  | Orchidaceae
Subfamily:  | Epidendroideae
Genus:  | Peristeria
Species:  |

P. elata

Binomial name
Peristeria elata

Hook.

Peristeria elata is a species of orchid occurring from Central America to Panama, Venezuela, and Ecuador. It is the type species of its genus. It is commonly referred to as the Holy Ghost orchid, dove orchid, or flower of the Holy Spirit in English, and, as the flor del Espiritu Santo in Spanish.

## Description

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It has ovoid pseudobulbs up to 12 cm (4.7 in) high, elongated, not fat and with four leaves that reach up to one meter of length and 15 cm (5.9 in) of width, folded. Flowers emerge from the base of the bulb and produce 4 to 12 flowers with an intense marble white color and purple spots. The anther and pistil are yellow. The central part of the flower has a well-defined dove shape. Its perfume is similar to beer. It blooms between July and October.

## Range

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The epiphyte is found in Central and north-western South America and South India; it ranges from Costa Rica to Peru.[2]

## Habitat

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In Panama this species has been abundant in the very humid mountain forests. It is found as an epiphyte plant on the trunks of trees covered with moss at elevation of about 1,100 m. In its natural habitat, this orchid grows near the ground level of mature forests.

## Conservation status

[edit]

This flower is in grave danger of extinction; because of its beauty, traffickers take it away from its habitat. The Panamanian NGO APROVACA runs a sponsorship program for this orchid to save it from extinction.[3] It is included on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meaning commercial international trade in wild-sourced specimens is prohibited.[1]

Illustration.

## National flower of Panama

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Since 1936, this orchid is the national flower of the Republic of Panama declared in the Flower Festival.[4][5]

## References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peristeria elata.

1. ^ a b "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
2. ^ Meisel, Joe E.; Kaufmann, Ronald S.; Pupulin, Franco (6 November 2014). Orchids of Tropical America: An Introduction and Guide. Cornell University Press. p. 164\. ISBN 978-0-8014-5492-9. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
3. ^ "Sponsor an orchid, help save a species from extinction - APROVACA". www.aprovaca.org. Archived from the original on 20 October 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
4. ^ República de Panamá. [1] Archived 2016-11-29 at the Wayback Machine.
5. ^ "La flor nacional de Panamá: Peristeria elata". September 2007.

* Dr. Karlheinz Senghas - Maxillaria, un genre chaotique \- Richardiana
* Eric A. Christenson - Vue d’ensemble du genre Maxillaria \- Richardiana

Taxon identifiers

Peristeria elata|

* Wikidata: Q1314005
* Wikispecies: Peristeria elata
* BOLD: 431680
* CoL: 4F4WT
* EoL: 1135759
* GBIF: 5307524
* GRIN: 27371
* iNaturalist: 493629
* IPNI: 650144-1
* NCBI: 125157
* Open Tree of Life: 833083
* Plant List: kew-150358
* POWO: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:650144-1
* Species+: 15428
* Tropicos: 23503772
* WFO: wfo-0000267337

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