Microchilus popayanensis (Ormerod) E.C.Smidt & M.W.Chase 2021

TYPE Drawing of Aspidogyne popayanensis by Paul Ormerod andHarvard Pap. Bot. 11: 149 fig 2 Ormerod 2005

Full Shade CoolLATEWinterEARLY spring

Common NameThe Popoayan Microchilus [A city in Cauca department of Colombia]

Flower Size .14" [3.5 mm]

Found in Cauca department of Colombia in primary montane forest, at elevations of 1800 to 2300 meters as a small to medium sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial with an erect, terete stem carrying   , ovate-lanceolate, acute, petiolate base leaves that blooms in the late winter and early spring with a terete, creeping rhizome giving rise to on an erect, terete stem carrying laxly 6, drying warm red-brown, one drying green, obliquely elliptic, acute to subacuminate, petiolate base leaves that blooms in the late fall and early winter on an erect, terminal, pubescent, 11.4" [28.5 cm] long, peduncle 6.92 to 7.32" [17.3 to 18.3 cm] long, provided with 4, scattered, lowermost subfoliaceous, sheathing bracts, rachis 2.92 to 3.4" [7.3 to 8.5 cm] long, laxly to 25 flowered inflorescence with ovate-lanceolate, acute, longer than the ovary floral bracts and carrying externally pubescent flowers with tan sepals and a white lip.

"This species is closely related to its Colombian congener M zonata but it differs in having leaves with a narrower median stripe, a shorter inflorescence peduncle 8.32 to 10.12 versus 13.6" (20.8 to 25.3 vs. 34 cm), flowers in which the apical quarter of the petals is obliquely rhombic (not triangular) and a fusiform (not semi-ellipsoid) spur." Ormerod 2005

Synonyms *Aspidogyne popayanensis Ormerod 2007

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

Harvard Pap. Bot. 11: 150 Ormerod 2005 as Aspidogyne popayanensis

Harvard Pap. Bot. 11: 149 fig 2 Ormerod 2005 as Aspidogyne popayanensis drawing fide;

* Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 197: 342 E.C.Smidt & M.W.Chase 2021

Materials to the Orchid Flora of Colombia Vol 1: 426 Szlachetko & Kolanowska 2017 as Aspidogyne popayanensis drawing fide;

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