Pleurothallis abortiva Luer 1980 SUBGENUS Pleurothallis SECTION Abortivae Luer 1986
Drawing by © Carl Luer and The Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Jany Renz Herbaria Website
Common Name The Aborted Pleurothallis [refers to the absent column foot]
Flower Size .2" [5 mm]
Found in Nariño department of Colombia in cloud forests at elevations around 1950 meters as a miniature to small sized, densely caespitose, cold growing epiphyte with slender, erect ramicauls enveloped by a close tubular sheath below the middle and 2 to 3 others at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, narrowly linear-ovate, acute, cuneate below into the sessile base leaf that blooms in the fall on a lateral, arising through a spathe at the base of the leaffascile of slender, .16 to .2" [4 to 5 mm] long, successively single flowered inflorescence and has tubular, shorter than the ovary floral bracts.
"Differs from all in the subgenus by the very small a membraneous, vestigal lip that clings to the undersurface of the much larger, cylindrical column and simply attached to the base. Resembling manys species of Lepanthes, the lip is attached to the base of the terete column without a foo." Luer 1998t
Synonyms Tigivesta abortiva (Luer) Luer 2007; Vestigium abortivum (Luer) Luer 2005
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol 3 Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVII Dryadella and Acronia section Macrophyllae-Fasiculatae Luer 2005 as Vestigium abortivum;
Icones Pleurothallidianrum Vol XXIX A Third Century of Stelis of Ecuador Systematics of Apoda-Prorepentia Luer 2007as Tigivesta abortiva; *
Lankesteriana 18[3]: 217-230 Wilson, Zhao etal 2018 Drawing fide
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