Rhyncholaelia digbyana
This species was known for a
hundred years as Brassavola digbyana. As
it goes with many genera, as time goes by, they justifiably get
regrouped. This is one of the most common species in the state of Quintana Roo,
you might be more familiar with the name Cancun.
The plants look like typical Cattleyas, except for the powdery silver
fine scaling which covers the pseudobulbs and leaves giving them a
silvery-whitish-grayish cast. When you come across a colony, they cover the
ground like grass, if
the area has not been too severely burned. The habitat picture above was
taken on the road to El Placer, Quintana Roo.
It made CITES appendix I some years back, but was removed once they
figured out it was really a weed and the reasons for placing it on the
appendix I in the first place was political.