Chlorea pavonii
Lindley 1840

Masdevallia caudata Lindl. 1833 foto© Eric Hunt, www.orchidphotos.org

About Peru
        
       

Peru is one of the most biologically mega diverse countries in the world. Out of the 247 countries in our planet, 17 of them concentrate 80% of the biological diversity of the world. Among them Peru is the third one most bio diverse country!

Peru is also the forth country with the widest areas of tropical forests and the ninth country in the world with the widest forest surface.

Peru is located in the central western region of South America, with a territorial expanse of 1.285 million Km2 out of which 756,866 Km2 are Amazon forests making Peru the second largest Amazonic country after Brazil. It limits in the north with Ecuador (1,420 Km.) and Colombia (1,496 Km.), in the south with Chile (160 Km.), and in the east with Brazil (1,560 Km.) and Bolivia (900 Km.). To the west Peru has a coast of 3500 km. with the Pacific Ocean.

Browse here the new additions to our web site

New picture of genus Aa!

New Orchid species!

Stanhopea marizaiana
Jenny 2003

New Orchid species!
Stanhopea manriquei
Jenny 2004

Pleurothallis navicularis Lindley 1859

Masdevallia triangularis Lindley 1846

Rodriguezia secunda Kunth 1816
foto© Eric Hunt, www.orchidphotos.org

Pleurothallis cordata
(Ruiz & Pavón) Lindley 1830

The coastal deserts (with 3500 km. of the most amazing and wild beaches) are crossed by 40 valleys. Peru is watered by 1,007 rivers that descend from more than 6,800 meters high in the Andes. These rivers crisscross Peru 80,000 Km. of waterways with a volume of 2000 trillion cubic meters of water. This amazonic, Andean and coastal rivers are born from the melting glaciers in the Andes that form 12,201 lakes and lagoons.

The Peruvian coastal climate unlike other tropical and subtropical zones of South America is configured by the Humboldt current which bathes the Peruvian coasts with frozen waters brought from Antarctica. Another phenomenon that maintains the Peruvian coastal waters frigid is the upwelling of very deep cold waters from the continental abysses formed in front of the western coasts of South America. This flow of cold waters drags plankton that feeds the lowest part on the marine nutritional chain. It is thanks to this upwelling phenomenon that the Peruvian sea is one of richest in the world.

Pleurothallis pedunculata (Klotzsch) Rchb. f. 1849

Pleurothallis matudana C. Schweinfurth 1938, foto© Klaus Elsses
  

Anacheilium vespa (Vell.) Pabst, Moutinho & A.V. Pinto 1981

Restrepia guttulata Lindley 1836
foto© Eric Hunt, www.orchidphotos.org

Masdevallia welischii Luer 1979

The cold ocean water creates a mild weather for the Peruvian coast where precipitation depends of the latitude. Most of the time the Peruvian coast is one of the driest deserts in the world with very few precipitations with exception of the northern area of the country close to the equatorial line.

	Web www.peruorchids.com

El Niño is a special case where warm waters from the western Pacific Ocean migrate east and southward as far as the northern coastal regions of Peru. Strong El Niño effects can largely influence Peru’s environment generating disturbances to the rich fishing industry as well as the blooming cycle of orchids, draughts and flooding. Recent archaeological discoveries suggest that the end of the Mochica culture could be generated by a strong El Niño that lasted for several years.

If we combine the various microclimates determined by the latitudes and we add the altitude of the Andes as a factor it creates several geographic and ecological configurations.

The Andes are a big natural barrier for the heavy clouds coming from the Amazon rainforest, determining different landscapes clearly defined by their location in the east or west of the Andes. These configurations also form a series of inner valleys with very particular conditions generating small micro habitats allowing for the development of new endemic species.

In the eastern side of the Andes where the clouds are trapped by the mountains, cloud forests are formed. It is in these valleys where the mayor biodiversity of orchids and other species can be found, even up to 4000 meters high.

Contrary to the common believe the lowland Amazon jungle or Rupa Rupa, watered by the Amazon River is not too rich in orchid species, although several species of orchids are spread out in the entire amazonic watershed. In this sense, it is obvious that orchids don’t respect political frontiers. It is very probable that many orchids that are classified as natives of neighboring countries are found in Peru too. These frontier areas are inhabited and they haven’t been studied in detail as has happened in neighboring countries like Ecuador, Colombia or Brazil.

Masdevallia manoloi C.A. Luer & M. Arias 1998
foto© Eric Hunt www.orchidphotos.org

Masdevalia infracta Lindley 1833 foto© Eric Hunt
www.orchidphotos.org

Lycaste longipetala (Ruiz & Pavón) Garay 1798

Pleurothallis phalangifera (C. Presl) Schltr. 1921

Phragmipedium besseae Dodson & J. Kuhn 1981

Masdevallia kuhniorum Luer 1978

Masdevallia notosibirica Maek. & T. Hashim. 1973
foto© Eric Hunt www.orchidphotos.org