Stelis barbellata Luer & Hirtz 2002
SECTION Stelis
Photo by © Alexander Hirtz
TYPE Drawing by Carl Luer
Common NameThe Barbel Carrying Stelis [Refers to the pointed extensions of the petals]
Flower Size .2" [5 mm]
Found in Zamora-Chinchipe province of Ecuador at elevations around 3050 meters as a miniature to small sized, cold growing ascending, caespitose epiphyte with erect, slender, prolific ramicauls enveloped by a long tubular sheath above the middle and another at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptical, subacute to obtuse, cuneate below into the petioalte base leaf that blooms in the summer on an erect, peduncle 1.2 to 2.8" [3 to 7 cm] long, arising through a spathe [1 to 1.5 mm] long, with an annulus below the apex of the ramicaul, rachis 3.6 to 5.2" [9 to 13 cm] long, subdense, distichous to secund, simultaneously several, many flowered inflorescence with tubular, oblique, acute, shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying either yellow or purple flowers.
"Similar to S antennata in the petals and lip but the habit differs dramatically. S barbellata is a larger species with ramicauls bot caespitose and prolific, and has elliptical, petiolate base leaves surpassed by a subdense raceme of either yellow or purple flowers. From the center of the flowers protrudes a pair of barbel-like processes from the acuminate tips of the petals, the lip is oblong, concave and acute. The basal third is filled witha transverse, densely pubescent callus." Luer 2002
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXIV A First Century of the Stelis of Ecuador Luer 2002;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXIV A First Century of the Stelis of EcuadorLuer 2002 Drawing fide;
Ecuadorian Native Orchids Vol 5 Dodson 2004 photo fide;
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