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Gomesa varicosa; photograph (c) Diogo Luiz, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Diogo Luiz, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2014-04-03

Gomesa varicosa (Lindl.) M.W.Chase & N.H.Williams

Dancing ladies; Dancing lady

Orchidaceae · Bolivia, Brazil West-Central +6

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Gomesa varicosa, photograph (c) Maxime Marcandella, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gomesa varicosa, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedGomesa varicosa, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedGomesa varicosa, photograph (c) Pedro Alvaro Neves, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gomesa varicosa, photograph (c) Pedro Alvaro Neves, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gomesa varicosa, photograph (c) Pedro Alvaro Neves, some rights reserved (CC BY) 22 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
6.3°C
Record low -0.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
27°C
Feb at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,472mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
22–37DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes April to September (October to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,058 mm of 1,454 mm) falls in October to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 21.9 °C against a yearly mean of 20.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to September.

Rain

1,454 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,058 mm of it October to March. Wettest month January at 248 mm, driest month August at 34 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,115 mm to 1,857 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,472 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,454 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 6.3 °C, the absolute minimum -0.5 °C, 1 frost night in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 34.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 12.2 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 9.4 °C to 18.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.8 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 6.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -42 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Gomesa varicosa through the yearWarmest month February, mean daily high 27 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 12.2 °C; 1,454 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost34.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-0.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 22–37RH 61–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 29 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 25–2927 / 25–2926 / 24–2825 / 23–2722 / 19–2621 / 18–2521 / 18–2423 / 20–2524 / 21–2625 / 23–2725 / 24–2826 / 25–28
Night °C19 / 17–2419 / 17–2418 / 16–2317 / 15–2214 / 11–2013 / 10–1912 / 9–1813 / 10–1914 / 12–1916 / 14–2017 / 15–2218 / 16–23
Rain mm248 / 140–314185 / 114–230164 / 131–23097 / 75–18979 / 38–13553 / 21–11349 / 16–11334 / 17–8184 / 24–140125 / 65–161140 / 117–188196 / 132–272
DLI36 / 34–4136 / 34–3932 / 29–3528 / 24–3123 / 21–2622 / 18–2423 / 20–2628 / 25–3130 / 27–3434 / 32–3737 / 34–3936 / 35–40
RH %66 / 63–6965 / 62–6967 / 63–6966 / 62–6965 / 62–6763 / 61–6562 / 58–6561 / 57–6563 / 58–6664 / 60–6765 / 60–6765 / 62–68
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 29 grid cells holding the 29 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2273:2665 (-23.675, -46.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -0.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 6.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 34.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 29 distinct grid cells holding 29 of the 29 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2273:2665 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -23.50_-46.875, lapse-corrected -42 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 748 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBolivia, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-23.064, -46.584 · in the densest population, 57 records (60% of those in range)
Kew's description“pseudobulbous epiphyte” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 95 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 29 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 70 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 556 km away. 66 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 95 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Gomesa varicosa, photograph 1did not loadGomesa varicosa, photograph 2did not loadGomesa varicosa, photograph 3did not loadGomesa varicosa, photograph 4did not loadGomesa varicosa, photograph 5did not loadGomesa varicosa, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Maxime Marcandella, some rights reserved (CC BY); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Pedro Alvaro Neves, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Goeppertia makoyana Goeppertia makoyana Brainplant Photo: CC BY-SA, Dias DioniziaCtenanthe lubbersiana Ctenanthe lubbersiana Marantaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedSalvia splendens Salvia splendens Scarlet sage Photo: CC BY, The Great WalterArachis repens Arachis repens Creeping peanut Photo: CC BY, eml23Trimezia coerulea Trimezia coerulea Iridaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedCattleya loddigesii Cattleya loddigesii Loddiges's cattleya Photo: CC BY-SA, Fernando Junior

Other Gomesa 19 in the reference

Gomesa barbata Gomesa barbata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, B. PhalanGomesa bifolia Gomesa bifolia Dancing ladies Photo: CC BY, RAPGomesa ciliata Gomesa ciliata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, JGGomesa colorata Gomesa colorata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Naoki TakebayashiGomesa cornigera Gomesa cornigera Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Adri BaierGomesa crispa Gomesa crispa Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Carlos Alexandre Mattos RaposoGomesa croesus Gomesa croesus Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Arne and Bent Larsen, Haarby, DenmarkGomesa echinata Gomesa echinata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Dalton Holland BaptistaGomesa flexuosa Gomesa flexuosa Dancing doll orchid Photo: CC BY, fmunozGomesa forbesii Gomesa forbesii Orchidaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedGomesa gardneri Gomesa gardneri Orchidaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedGomesa longipes Gomesa longipes Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Fabrício Mil Homens Riella all 20 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Ampliglossum varicosum; Coppensia varicosa; Oncidium euxanthinum; Oncidium geraense; Oncidium lunaeanum and 8 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Orchidaceae
Described by
(Lindl.) M.W.Chase & N.H.Williams
Native to
Bolivia, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast +5
Wild records
95 in range · 70 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -23.50_-46.875, lapse-corrected -42 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 30 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…