Oncidium altissimum

Oncidium altissimum, Wydler's dancing-lady orchid,^[2] is a species of orchid native to the West Indies (Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles), with an 18th-Century citation from Jamaica.^[1][3]

Oncidium altissimum
Illustration by Sarah Drake
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Orchidaceae
Subfamily:	Epidendroideae
Genus:	Oncidium
Species:	O. altissimum
Binomial name
Oncidium altissimum (Jacq.) Sw. 1800
Synonyms[1]
Epidendrum altissimum Jacq. Xeilyathum altissimum (Jacq.) Raf. Oncidium forkelii Scheidw. Oncidium wydleri Rchb.f. Oncidium hannelorae Nir

This name should not be confused with the illegitimate homonym Oncidium altissimum Lindl. 1833, now considered a synonym of O. baueri native to South America.^[4] The true Oncidium altissimum was first described in 1760 by Nicolaus Joseph von Jacquin with the name Epidendrum altissimum, citing Jamaica as the origin of the specimen he was describing .^[3] Olof Swartz later transferred the species to Oncidium in 1800.^[5]