Pleurothallis johnsonii Ames 1923 SUBGENUS Acianthera [Scheidw.] Luer 1986
Photo by © John Varigos
Photo by © Ron Parsons
Photo by © Weyman Bussey
Photos by © Mario Velasquez and his Flickr Orchid Photo Website
TYPE Drawing by © Oakes Ames and The Epidendra Website
Drawing of Acianthera johnsoniiby © R Solano and Icones Orchidacearum 5 & 6 Orchids Of Mexico Parts 2 & 3 Plate 509 Hagsater, Soto 2002
Common Name Johnson's Pleurothallis [American Original Collector of species 1900's]
Flower Size 3/4" wide [2 cm]
Found in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama in primary and secondary pine/oak forests at elevations of 1000 to 2450 meters as a medium sized, warm growing, semi-scandent litho-terrestrial on road cuts and cliffs with terete, 3 to 4 noded ramicauls enveloped completely by imbricating, laterally compressed sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, acute, gradually narrows below into the conduplicate base leaf that flowers in the summer and fall on a basal, creeeping, racemose, 2" [5 cm] long, 5 to 7 flowered infloresence with obliquely infundibular, broadly obtuse, transparent green, almost as long as the ovary floral bracts and carrying foul smelling flowers.
"In habit resembling P cogniauxiana but with a very different labellum and sepals." Ames 1923
"The creeping inflorescence produced from the base of the stems, the semiclosed yellow flowers spotted with purple, and the laterally compressed sheaths are characteristic. It is similar to P herrerae , which has longer, terete rhizomes, broader leaves, and a lip with uncinate lateral lobes." Solano & Soto 2002
Synonyms Acianthera johnsonii (Ames) Pridgeon & M.W. Chase 2001; Brenesia johnsonii (Ames) Luer 2004;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Schedul. Orch. 2: 21-22. Ames 1923;
Orchids of Guatemala and Belize Ames & Correll 1952
Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965;
Las Orquedias De El Salvador Vol 2 Hamer 1974 drawing hmm/photo hmm;
Las Orquedias de El Salvador Vol 3 Hamer 1981 drawing hmm;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide;
Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4:244 Pridgeon & M.W. Chase 2001 as Acianthera johnsonii;
Icones Orchidacearum 5 & 6 Orchids Of Mexico Parts 2 & 3 Plate 509 Hagsater, Soto 2002 as Acianthera johnsonii drawing fide to the first 2 photos;
Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003;
Australian Orchid Review Vol 69 No 5 2004 photo;
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 Brenesia johnsonii;
Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 as Acianthera johnsonii photo fide;
Diversity of Pleurothallidinae in Guatemala: An Endangered Orchid Subtribe with High Economic and Horticultural Potentials Edgar Mo Mo, Cetzal, Basu and Vega 2017 as Acianthera johnsonii photo fide;
Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 as Acianthera johnsonii;
Pleurothallids Neotropical Jewels Vol 1 Karremans & Viera 2020 as Acianthera johnsonii photo fide
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