Lepanthes cercopetala Luer & Hirtz 2012 SECTION Lepanthes SUBSECTION Lepanthes SERIES Elongatae 1993
Photo by © Alexander Hirtz
TYPE Drawing TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer
Common Name The Tailed Petal Lepanthes [refers to the long acuminate lower lobe of the petals]
Flower Size .12" [3 mm]
Found in Esmeraldas province of Ecuador at elevations around 2200 meters as a mini-miniature sized, cold growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect, slender ramicauls enveloped by 6 to 10 dilated, microscopically scabrous lepanthiform sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, broadly elliptical to subcircular, broadly obtuse, contracted below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the fall on 1 to 2, arising from the apex of the ramicaul, peduncle .4 to .8" [1 to 2 cm] long, 1.2 to 1.6" 93 to 4 cm] long overall, loose, successively single, 3 to 8 flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the ovary floral bracts .
"This delicate little species with nearly circular leaves has a loose, successively flowered raceme with small flowers with sharply acute sepals. The lobes of the petals are acute, and the long, attenuated lower lobes hang downward, nearly as long as the lateral sepals. The blades of the lip are narrowly crescent-shaped. The boat-shaped appendix is pubescent within." Luer & Larsen 2012
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Harvard Papers in Botany, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 333 to 368 2012 MISCELLANEOUS NEW SPECIES IN THE PLEUROTHALLIDINAE (ORCHIDACEAE) Carlyle A. Luer and A Hirtz drawing fide
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