!Bifrenaria atropurpurea [Lodd.]Lindley 1832 Photo courtesy of © Dalton Holland Baptista © and Orchidstudium

Another Flower Photo courtesy of Mauro Peixoto Copyrighted and his Brazilian Plants Website

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Common Name The Black-Purple Bifernaria

Flower Size 3" [5.5 cm]

This is a Brazilian medium sized, warm to cool growing epiphytic or lithophytic species found in the southeastern Atlantic forest in open spaces, usually on rocks at elevations of 200 to 2000 meters in mountainous, wet tropical forests with egg shaped, 4 angled pseudobulbs and a solitary, to 10" [25 cm] long, apical, broad-elliptic, acuminate, erect, glabrous, coriaceous leaf that has 3 prominent veins beneath and blooms through the spring and summer in Brazil on a 3" [7.5 cm] long, basal, racemose, semi-erect inflorescence arising on a newly matured pseudobulb with 3 to 5, fleshy, fragrant flowers.

This orchid is the type species for the genus.

Synonyms Bifrenaria atropurpurea var caparaoensis [Brade] Hoehne 1950; Bifrenaria caparaoensis Brade 1943; *Maxillaria atropurpurea Lodd. 1832 ;

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Flora Brasilica Vol XII VII 115-147 Hoehne 1953 drawing good; Flora Brasilica Vol XII VII 115-147 Hoehne 1953 as B atropurpurea var caparaoensis drawing good; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Orchidaceae Brasilense Pabst & Dungs 1970; Orchidaceae Braziliense Band II Pabst & Dungs 1977 drawing fide; The Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb, Laurent 1992 photo fide; Orchids of Brazil McQueen 1993 photo fide; Orchids of the High Mountain Atlantic Rainforest in SE Brazil Warren & Miller 1994 drawing ok/photo good; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen lieferung 29 1777 - 1840 Brieger 1994 photo good; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; Orchid Australia Vol 11 No 1 1999 photo; Icones Orchidacearum Brasilenses Vol II Plate 002 Castro & Campacci 2000 drawing ok; Coletanea de Orquideas Brasileiras 2 Encyclias Campacci 2003; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 #5 2008 photo fide; Orchidees du Bresil, As Orquideas da Serra do Castelo Espirito Santo Brasil Vol 4 Chiron & Bolsanello 2014 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #6 2017 photo fide;

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