Pleurothallis acuminata (Kunth) Lindl. 1842 SUBGENUS Acuminatia SECTION Acuminatae Luer 1986
LCDP Photo by © J S Moreno
Photo by © Eric Hunt
Drawing by Carl Luer
Common Name The Gradually Tapering Point Pleurothallis
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia at elevations of [500] 2000 to 3200 meters as a miniature to small sized, cool to cold growing, caespitose epiphyte with clustered, erect to ascending ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 5 tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, oblong, oblong-elliptic to oblong-oblanceolate, rounded to acute to apiculate, cuneate below into the short, petiolate base leaf that blooms on 1 to 2, arising through a spathe, erect to suberect, subdensely many flowered, 2.8 to 9.2" [7 to 23 cm] long, racemose inflorescence with an as long as the pedicel floral bract.
"Even though the plant is variable it is always distinguished by the ramicuals more or less equal to the elliptical to narrowly elliptical, obtuse leaf length and elongated racemes of nearly simultaneous flowers. P tenuifolia differs only in the narrow leaves and P angustipetala is only slightly smaller. The leaves of P stenophylla and P lagarophyta seem sufficiently distinct but the flowers are very similar. P dimidia is a small very similar taxon and has delicate, smaller flowers is also very similar.
Synonyms Anathallis acuminata (Kunth) Pridgeon & M.W. Chase 2001; Anathallis brittonii (Rolfe) Pridgeon & M.W. Chase 2001; Anathallis racemosa Barb. Rodr. 1877; *Dendrobium acuminatum Kunth 1816; Humboldtia acuminata (Kunth) Kuntze 1891; Humboldtia aurea (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Humboltia acuminata (Kunth) Kuntze 1891; Humboltia aurea (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Pleurothallis angustipetala C.Schweinf. 1953; Pleurothallis aurea Lindl. 1843; Pleurothallis brittonii Rolfe 1907; Pleurothallis nigro-hirsuta Kraenzl. 1905; Pleurothallis ochroleuca Schltr. 1920; Pleurothallis racemosa (Barb. Rodr.) Cogn. 1896; Pleurothallis tenuifolia C.Schweinf. 1951; Specklinia acuminata (Kunth) Lindl. 1835; Stelis aurea (Lindl.) Karremans 2014
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
F.W.H.von Humboldt, A.J.A.Bonpland & C.S.Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 1: 357 Kunth 1816 as Dendrobium acuminatum;
Edwards's Bot. Reg. 21: t. 1797 Lindley 1835 as Specklinia acuminata;
* Edwards's Bot. Reg. 28(Misc.): 70 Lindley 1842
Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 12: 397 Lindley 1843 as P aurea;
Bonplandia Rchb.f 1854;
Gen. Spec. Orchid. 1: 24 Barb Rodr. 1877 as Anathallis acuminata;
Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 667 Kuntze 1891 as Humboltia aurea;
Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 667 Kuntze 1891 as Humboltia acuminata;
Flora Brasilense 3(4): 554 Cogniaux 1896 as P racemosa;
Flora Brasilense 3(4): 554 Cogniaux 1896 as P racemosa drawing fide;
Flora Brasilense 3(4): 555 Cogniaux 1896 as P racemosa var minor;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 1: 91 Schlechter 1905 as P nigohirsuta; ;
Bull. New York Bot. Gard. 4: 449 Rolfe 1907 as P brittonii;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 108 Schlechter 1920 as P ochroleuca; ;
Bull. New York Bot. Gard. 4: 449 Rolfe 1907;
Bot. Mus. Leafl. 15: 102 Schweinfurth 1951 as P tenuifolia;
Bot. Mus. Leafl. 16: 45 C Schweinfurth 1953 as P angustipetala;
Orchids of Peru Vol 2 Schweinfurth 1959;
Orchids of Peru Vol 2 Schweinfurth 1959 as P angustipetala
Orchids of Peru Vol 2 Schweinfurth 1959 as P angustipetala Drawing fide;
Venezuelan Orchids Vol 4 Dunsterville & Garay 1966 drawing fide;
Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 2 1970 drawing fide;
Fieldiana Biology, Vol 33, 1st Supple. to the Orchids of Peru Schweinfurth 1970;
Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986 as Pleurothallis brittonii;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986 as Pleurothallis tenuifolia;
Icones Plantarum Tropicarum Plate 285 Dodson & Vasquez 1989 as P tenuifolia drawing hmm;
Venezuela, Paraiso de Orquideas Romero 1997 photo fide;
Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide;
Orchids of Bolivia Vol 1 Pleurothallidinae Vasquez & Ibisch 2000 drawing good;
Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4:247 Pridgeon & M.W. Chase2001 as Anathallis acuminata;
Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4:247 Pridgeon & M.W. Chase2001 as Anathallis brittonii;
Icones Orchidacearum Perviarum Plate 745 Bennett & Christenson 2001 as P tenuifolia var longisepala drawing good;
Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo ok;
Macchu Picchu Orchids Eric Christenson 2003
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVI Pleurothallis subgenus Acianthera and Three Allied subgenera, A Second Century of new Species of Stelis of Ecuador, Epibator, Ophidion and Zootrophion Luer 2004 as Specklinia acuminata;
AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 2 2006 as P angustipetala photo fide;
Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide as Anathallis acuminata;
LANKESTERIANA 13(3): 319—332 Kerremans 2014 as Stelis aurea;
Orquideas de Farallones de Cali Galindo-Tarazona, Haelterman, Zuluaga Trochez and Sebastian Moreno 2020 as Stelis aurea photo fide
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