Cipura paludosa

Quick Characteristics:

Cipura paludosa grows in humid soils in the Pantanal in Brazil and Paraguay, photograph by Germán Roitman. It has a more extensive range than once thought, perhaps all the way to Colombia.

Dave Brastow encountered these plants, in mid-March, at the Explorer's Inn, in the Reserva Nacional Tambopata, Peru. This was definitely a jungle environment, with 30 °C temps and 98% humidity. The flowers are about 3 cm across, and open early in the morning, closing by mid-day. There were multiple flowers, opening in daily succession. The leaves were pleated. The bulb was about 2 cm long by 1 cm across, with a brown tunic and roots coming from a basal plate about 5 cm deep in a heavy clay soil.