Masdevallia leonor-baeziana Os.Perd., Edwin Trujillo & Karremans 2023

SUBGENUS Masdevallia SECTION Masdevallia SUBSECTION Saltatrices [Rchb.f] Luer 1986

LCDP Photo by © E Restrepo and Lankesteriana 23[2] 2023

LATE EARLY

Common Name Leonor Baez'a Masdevallia [Carmen Leonor Báez de Perdomo, Colombian mother of the first author, who inspired his love for nature and led him to study plants and their interactions current]

Flower Size

Found in Caqueta department of Colombia at elevations around 1000 meters as a mini-miniature sized, warm to cool growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect ramicauls enveloped by 2 to 3, tubular shaeths and carrying a single, apical, bright green, erect to suberect, coriaceous, elliptic, obtuse, emarginate, witha short, apiculus, gradually narrowing below into the dark purple petiolate base leaf that blooms in the late fall through earlier spring on a, horizontal, light green, suberect, to 1.6" [4 cm] long, enveloped by tubular bracts, single flowered inflorescence with tubular, much shorter than the pedicel floral bracts.

"The new species is a member of

SUBGENUS Masdevallia SECTION Masdevallia SUBSECTION Saltatrices [Rchb.f] Luer 1986 , all of which share having deeply connate sepals that form a long sepaline tube, which is often ventricose. Masdevallia leonor-baeziana belongs to the M. constricta group, which, besides M. constricta, includes M. aurea Luer, M. tubata Schltr., M. rex Luer & Hirtz , M. fuchsii Luer , and M. ampullacea Luer & Andreetta ; none previously known to occur in Colombia. Morphologically, the most similar species are M. constricta and M. fuchsii. From the former, the new species is easily distinguished by the much shorter size of the sepals (dorsal sepal 2.2" vs 2.8 to 3.28" [5.5 vs. 7.0–8.2 cm] long), gradually narrowing (vs. abruptly contracted) into notoriously shorter tails (.8 to .92" vs 1.6 to 1.8" [2.0–2.3 vs. 4.0–4.5 cm] long), which do not exceed the sepaline tube length (vs. tails significantly longer than the sepaline tube), the petals smaller (2.32 to 2.44 x .76 to .8" [5.8–6.1 × 1.9– 2.0 vs. 7–8 × 3 mm), the lip sigmoid-ovate, triangular above the middle, gradually narrowing towards apex (vs. sigmoid-ligulate, with a claw above the middle, broadened towards a truncate apex), and shorter .182 to .28" vs .24" (4.9– 5.2 vs. 6 mm long). Masdevallia leonor-baeziana can be distinguished from the Peruvian M. fuchsii by longer sepals (dorsal sepal 2.2" vs 1.32 to 1.4" [5.5 vs. 3.3–3.5 cm] long), gradually narrowing (vs. abruptly contracted) into longer tails (.8 to .92 vs .4 to .48" [2.0–2.3 vs. 1.0–1.2 cm] long), that are subequal to the length of the tube (vs. tails half the length of the tube), and the sigmoid-ovate lip (vs. oblong-ligulate)." Oscar Perdomo, Edwin Trujillo & Adam Karremans 2023

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

* Lankesteriana 23[2]:140 Oscar Perdomo, Edwin Trujillo & Adam Karremans 2023 photo/drawing fide;

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------