Pleurothallis nigriflora L.O.Williams 1942 2015 SUBGENUS Effusae Luer 2000
Photo by © AMO and Asociacion Mexicano de Orquidea Orchid Photo Website
Drawing by © Carl Luer
Common Name The Black Flowered Pleurothallis
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found in Morelos state of Mexico in pine-oak forests at elevations around 1800 meters as a mini-miniature sized, cool growing, caespitose epiphyte or lithophyte with slender, erect, ramicauls enveloped by a tubular sheath and 2 to 3 others at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, fleshy, dark green spotted with purple, elliptical, subacute to obtuse, cuneate below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the summer on a loose, subsecund, short to .2 to .5" [5 to 1.2mm] long, successively 2 to 5 flowered inflorescence arising througha minute spathefrom near the apex of the ramicaul and has a tubular floral bract.
Similar to and often cited as a synonym of P resupinate but differs in the shorter inflorescence with smaller purple black flowers that are smooth without distinct carinae. The lip and petals of the 2 species are similar.
Synonyms Effusiella nigriflora (L.O.Williams) Luer 2007; Specklinia nigriflora (L.O.Williams) Luer 2004; Stelis nigriflora (L.O.Williams) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 11: 168 L O Williams 1942;
Icones Pleurothallidianrum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
Lindleyana 16(4): 258. (Ames) Pridgeon & M.W. Chase 2001 as Stelis nigriflora;
Orquideas del Estado de Morelos ORQUÍDEA (MÉX.) VOLUMEN 16 NÚMERO ÚNICO enero 2002 drawing/photo fide;
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 nigriflora;
Icones Pleurothallidianrum Vol XXIX A Third Century of Stelis of Ecuador Systematics of Apoda-Prorepentia Luer 2007 as Effusiella nigriflora
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