Pleurothallis casapensis Lindl. 1842 SUBGENUS Acianthera [Scheidw.] Luer 1986

Side View of Flower

Photos Jay Pfahl

Leaf and Flowers

Plant and Flowers

Photos by Eric Hunt, plant grown by Anna Chai

Green Flower

Photo by © Jay Pfahl

Drawing

Drawing of P harpophylla by Carl Luer

Drawings by Carl Luer

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Common Name

Flower Size 3/8" [1 cm]

Found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela in wet montane forests and secondary evergreen forests at elevations of 600 to 2800 meters as a miniature sized, warm to cold growing, shortly repent epiphyte with erect, stout ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, ovate, ancipitous leaf that gradually narrows into the long petiole and blooms in the late summer and early fall on a short, racemose, several flowered inflorescence with shorter than the ovary floral bracts, and holding the flowers close to the leaf base.

"A short creeping rhizome produces erect, narrowly triquetrous ramicauls that bear obtuse, broadly elliptical, spreading leaves that are broadly cuneate, rounded or subcordate at the base. The short, congested inflorescence emerges from the base to lie on top of the more or less spreading leaf. The margins of the leaf are sometimes shortly decurrent on the ramicaul. The flowers are similar to P agathophylla and P phyllostachys being yellowish green to yellow becoming orange with age. The dorsal sepal is erect, oblong and thickened towards the obtuse apex. The lateral sepals below are connate into a shortly bifid lamina. The small petals are shortly fimbriate. The lip is thick, obtuse, minutely denticulate, with broadly rounded, erect, lobelike margins below the middle and with a pair of calli on the middle third. P agathophyyla is distinguished by the smaller rounded leaves and a long repent rhizome. P phyllostachys is distinguished by the larger habit with the sides of the leaf long decurrent on the wings of the ramicaul so that the raceme is borne well above the base of the leaf." Luer 2004

Synonyms Acianthera casapensis (Lindl.) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001; Acianthera harpophylla (Rchb.f.) Luer 2004; Acianthera polystachya (Ruiz & Pav.) Pupulin 2012; Humboldtia casapensis (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Humboldtia harpophylla (Rchb.f.) Kuntze 1891; Humboltia casapensis (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Humboltia polystachya Ruiz & Pav. 1798; Pleurothallis harpophylla Rchb.f. 1855; Pleurothallis triangularis Klotzsch & H. Karst. 1847; Pleurothallis triquetra Klotzsch ex Lindl. 1859; Pleurothallis wolfiana Schltr. 1921; Stelis polystachya (Ruiz & Pav.) Willd. 1805

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

* Edwards's Bot. Reg. 28: Misc. 76, no. 61. Lindl. 1842;

Orchid. Linden. 2, n. 7 Lindl. 1846 as P chamensis;

Allg. Gartenzeitung 15: 329-330 Klotzsch & H.Karst 1847 as P triangularis;

Bonplandia Rchb.f 1854 as P triangularis;

Bonplandia Rchb.f 1855 as P harpophylla;

Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1881 as P harpophylla var atropurpurea;

Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 667. Kuntze 1891 Humboldtia casapensis;

Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 666 Kuntze 1891 as Humboldtia chamensis;

Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 8: 64 Schlechter 1921 as P wolfiana;

The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946;

Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;

Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Peru Plate 0154 Dodson & Bennett 1989 drawing fide;

Orchids of Bolivia Vol 1 Pleurothallidinae Vasquez & Ibisch 2000 photo/drawing fide;

Lindleyana Vol 16[4]:242 Pridgeon & Chase 2001 as Acianthera casapensis;

Lindleyana 16(4): 242. Pridgeon & M.W. Chase 2001 as Acianthera chamensis;

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

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 Drawing 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 P harpophylla

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 P harpophylla drawing 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 Acianthera harpophylla;

Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide as Acianthera casapensis;

Mille et Une Mini Orchideees Roguenant 2009 as Acianthera casapensis photo ok;

Orquideas del Valle de Aburra Medellin Colombia Orqidelogia 2014 photo fide;

Pleurothallids Neotropical Jewels Vol 1 Karremans & Viera 2020 as Acianthera polystachys photo fide;

Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 75(1)e069: 13 2018 A taxonomic synopsis of Acianthera (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae) in Peru, including two new species Damian, Chiron and Mitidieri 2018 as Acianthera polystachya photo fide;

Orquideas de Farallones de Cali Galindo-Tarazona, Haelterman, Zuluaga Trochez and Sebastian Moreno 2020 as Acianthera polystachya photo fide;

LANKESTERIANA 23(2). Karremans, Moreno, Gil-Amaya, Morales, Espinosa, Mesa, Restrepo, Rincon-Gonzales, Serna, Sierra-Ariza and Vieira-Uribe 2023 as Acianthera polystachae photo fide;

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