Masdevallia filaria Luer & R.Escobar 1979 SUBGENUS Masdevallia SECTION Masdevallia SUBSECTION Saltatrices [Rchb.f] Luer 1986
Photo by © Wiel Driessen and his Flickr Orchid Photo Website
Photos by © Patricia Harding
TYPE Drawing by Carl Luer
Common Name The Thready Masdevallia [refers to the wiry tails of the flower]
Flower Size 2" [5 cm]
Found in the central and western cordilleras of Colombia in cloud forests at elevations of 1500 to 2100 meters as a , mini-miniature sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte with erect, slender ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 loose tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, coriaceous, petiolate, narrowly elliptical, obtuse leaf that blooms in the spring and summer on an erect to suberect, [3 to 8 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence arising from low on the ramicaul and with a bract above the base.
Cited by some sources as a synonym of Masdevallia ventricularia but there are several obvious differences so I will leave them separate pending more research.
Synonyms Masdevallia ventricularia var longicaudata Lehm. 1898; Masdevallia ventricularia ssub. filaria [Luer & Escobar] Luer 1986
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Orquideologia Vol 13 No 1 1978 photo/drawing/herbarium sheet fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 Dodson 2002 photo fide; Masdevallia's in Kleur Vol 1 P M Oversteegen, Eisses & A P Sijm 2001 photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXIII Systematics of Masdevallia Part 4 Luer 2002 drawing fide; Libro Rojo de Plantas De Colombia Vol 6 Primera Parte Saenz 2007; Orchidaceae Masdevallia and Affiliates Dodson & Luer 2009 drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 78 #4 2014 photo fide;
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