Masdevallia laevis Lindl. 1845 SUBGENUS Masdevallia SECTION Masdevallia SUBSECTION Masdevallia
Photo by © Alfonso Doucette .
Photo by Richard Korber.
Photo by Eric Hunt
LATE
Common Name The Smooth Lipped Masdevallia
Flower Size 3/4" [2 cm]
Found in Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador in high cloud forests at elevations of 2900 to 3900 meters on scrub trees as a small sized, variable, cold growing epiphyte with erect, slender, often blackish ramicauls enveloped by 2 to 3 loose tubular sheaths carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptical, obtuse to subacute leaf that is cuneate below into the slender petiole blooming in the late spring, summer and fall with up to 4 simultaneous, on a slender, erect, 2 to 5" [2 to 13 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence arising from below the middle on the ramicaul with a bract above the base and a tubular floral bract holding the showy flower at mid leaf.
CAUTION The first photo is absolutely correct, the later 2 photos of a different color were sent in as M lepida and may not be correct.
M affinis is also currently considered to be a synonym of this species but I have left them separate for now pending more research.
Synonyms Masdevallia chlorotica Kraenzl 1925; Masdevallia chrysoneura F.Lehm. & Kraenzl. 1899; Masdevallia confusa Kraenzl. 1925; Masdevallia gomeziana Lehm & Kraenzl. 1921; Masdevallia lepida Rchb. f. 1855; Masdevallia musculigera Schlechter 1924; Masdevallia pantherina Lehm. & Kraenzl. 1894; Masdevallia petiolaris Schlechter 1899;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1855; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1855 as M lepida; Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten II Colombia Schlechter 1920 as M petiolaris; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 3 1970 drawing good; Orquideologia Vol 16 No 1 1983 drawing; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Systematics of Masdevallia Vol 2 Luer 1986 drawing/photo fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 6 COS 1998 as M lepida photo fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 6 COS 1998 photo hmm; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 1 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing not - see M affinis; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXII Systematics of Masdevallia Part 3 Luer 2001 drawing fide to the first photo; A Treasure of Masdevallia Vol 26 Luer & Dalstroem 2001 as M lepida drawing fide to the 3rd photo; A Treasure of Masdevallia Vol 26 Luer & Dalstroem 2001 as M petiolaris drawing fide; A Treasure of Masdevallia Vol 26 Luer & Dalstroem 2001 as M maculigera drawing fide; Masdevallia's in Kleur Vol 1 P M Oversteegen, Eisses & A P Sijm 2001 photo fide; Masdevallia's in Kleur Vol 1 P M Oversteegen, Eisses & A P Sijm 2001 as M laeve photo fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 Dodson 2002 photo fide; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo not; Libro Rojo de Plantas De Colombia Vol 6 Primera Parte Saenz 2007; Orchidaceae Masdevallia and Affiliates Dodson & Luer 2009 drawing ok; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide;
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