Elleanthus ecuadorensis Garay 1978
SUBGENUS Stachydelyna SECTION Laterales Garay 1978
Photo by © Alexander Hirtz
Photo by © The The Orchid Society of Great Britan Website
Photo by © Ecuagenera Orchid Photo Website
TYPE Drawing by © Garay
Drawing by © Dodson
Common Name The Ecuadorian Elleanthus
Flower Size .08" [2 mm]
Found in Choco' and Risaralda departments of Colombia and Pichincha province of Ecuador in very wet montane cloud forests on steep embankments at elevations of 680 to 2140 meters as a small sized, warm to cold growing terrestrial with caespitose, slender more or less arcuate, leafy above stems carrying 4 to 5, papery, suplicate, 7 nerved, attenuate-acuminate, cuneate below into the base leaves leaves that blooms in the spring and summer on a terminal, subglobose, to 1.2" [3 cm] long, densely many flowered inflorescence with purple violet, cymbiform, acute to abruptly acuminate, twice as long as the ovary floral bracts.
CAUTION!!! The first photo by Alexander Hirtz is absolutely correct the other 2, one cited by the Orchid Society of Great Britan and the other by Ecuagenera are not this species, I am still trying to determine what species they are within the section Laterales
"Unique in the section because of the disc with a verrucose narrow heart shaped patch in the center.
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
*Flora of Ecuador No 9 225[1] Garay 1978 drawing ok;
Icones Plantarum Tropicarum Plate 369 Dodson 1980 drawing fide;
Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 2 Dodson 2001 drawing fide/photo good;
Flora of Ecuador No 87 225[3] Orchidaceae Dodson & Luer 2010 drawing fide;
Materials to the Orchid Flora of Colombia Vol IV:322 Szlatchetko & Kolanowska 2023 drawing fide
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