Lepanthes palpebralis Luer 1998 SUBGENUS Lepanthes SECTION Lepanthes SUBSECTION Lepanthes SERIES Lepanthes

TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer and Selbyana Webpage

Common Name The Eyelid-Like Lepanthes [refers to the leaves]

Flower Size .25" [8.5 mm]

Found in Holguin province of Cuba at elevations of 350 to 950 meters as a mini-miniature sized, hot to warm growing, caespitose epiphyte with slender, erect ramicauls enveloped by 5 to 7 minutely ciliate leapanthiform sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, narrowly elliptical-ovate, acute, minutely but densely ciliate, cuneate below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the fall on an erect, borne on the back of the leaf, peduncle filiform, .2 to .24" [5 to 6 mm] long, congested, distichous, rachis .24" [6 mm] long, successively single, many flowered inflorescence with slightly muricate, shorter than the pedicel floral bracts.

"Characterized by the small habit with narrowly ovate, minutely but densely ciliate leaves and a congested inflorescence borne on the back surface. The sepals are glabrous and acute and the petals are narrowly oblong. The lobes of the lip are developed into blades with the tips incurved beneath the column. With the entire, acute, non-caudate sepals L palpebralis differs from L blepharophylla, with narrow ciliate leaves, much smaller petals and the well formed blades of the lip L palpebralis differs from L grisbachiana"Luer 1998

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Lindleyana Vol 13 #3 pg 143 Luer 1998 drawing fide; SELBYANA Volume 22(2) 109 2001 as L martae drawing fide; Orchid Flora of the Greater Antilles Ackerman 2014;

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