LORETO FLORA: THE 7 MOST REPRESENTATIVE FLOWERS - BIOLOGY - 2025

The flora of Loreto, department of Peru, is very varied due to the immense plant wealth of its territory. It is possible to observe various species of timber trees, such as cedar and mahogany, and a large variety of orchids and cacti.

Among the most representative autochthonous floral species of the department of Loreto are some orchids of the acacallis, cattleya, dracula, epidendrum, oncidium and lycaste genera, as well as some species of the cactus family.

Loreto has always attracted botanists and the pharmaceutical industry, since there are unique plant species in this department; some do not even have a scientific classification yet.

The 7 most representative flowers of Loreto

1- Acacallis

It is a genus of small orchids with about 5 or 6 species, which grows in the Peruvian jungle and in other South American countries.

It has oblong lance-shaped leaves and has short petioles. It develops erect stems that later arch.

It has elongated, slightly compressed and rough pseudobulbs, which are covered with bracts.

Its color can vary from white to pink and purple. It lives in forests with high temperatures and very high humidity.

2- Cattleya

This genus of orchids also lives in the jungles of Peru and in several Latin American countries.

They can be terrestrial or epiphytic (born on another plant) and have a cylindrical underground stem from which the roots are generated.

The swallow cattleyas (cattleya luteola and cattleya violaceous) are the flowers of this species most typical of Loreto. They are of variable size with an oblong-elliptical pseudobulb.

Its leaves can be oblong, elliptical or lance-shaped, with a leathery or fleshy consistency. They have a full edge and free petals.

3- Dracula

This genus of orchids has 118 species, including the strangest and best known of this family.

Previously they were included in the genus masdevallia, but later they were disaggregated.

Draculas ("little dragon" in Latin) are orchids that form in clusters with a dense group of stems.

Each stem develops a large, dark or light green, thin, spike-shaped leaf. They do not have pseudobulbs.

4- Epidendrum

It is a genus made up of about 1000 species of orchids. Most of these are epiphytic habits.

Due to their differences in vegetation, appearance and flower size, many species in this group have been separated to form their own genera, such as the dimerandra, the oerstedella, the encyclia and the barkeria.

5- Lycaste

This genus of orchids that grows in the jungle has 54 epiphytic species. It lives at heights that range between 500 and 2800 meters above sea level.

Lycaste is deciduous (dying and falling) to various degrees. There are species of yellow flowers, such as the aromatic lycaste, which have no leaves.

There are also evergreen ones such as lycaste skinerii. This species has pseudobulbs and its leaves remain alive while it blooms. It produces large, triangular flowers.

6-

This genus of orchids typical of the Peruvian jungle is also known by the name of dancing lady, because its flowers move with the breeze as if it were dancing and its lip (modified petal in the shape of a lip) resembles a dancer.

There are about 330 species of these orchids that belong to this genus of the subfamily epidendroideae.

7- Cactaceae

This family of succulent plants is mostly thorny. They are known by the common name of cacti or cactus. It is a plant native to America.

The fundamental characteristic of this family of flowering plants is its areola. It has a specialized structure from which spines, new shoots, and sometimes flowers emerge.

References

1. Flora Catalog - Species Cites Peruanas. (PDF) Consulted on November 21 from minam.gob.pe
2. Diagnosis of Plant Resources of the Peruvian Amazon. (PDF) Consulted of iiap.org.pe
3. Varied Flora of Loreto. Consulted of peru.travelguia.net
4. Bechtel, Cribb and Launert. The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species.
5. Between Iquitos and Nauta there are unique flowers in the world. Consulted of inforegion.pe
6. Fruit trees and useful plants in Amazonian life. (PDF) Consulted of fao.org