Lepanthopsis dewildei Luer & R.Escobar 1994 SUBGENUS Microlepanthes
Photos by © Jay Pfahl
TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer
Common Name DeWilde's Lepanthopsis [Colombian Orchid Enthusiast and discoverer of species current]
Flower Size 3/8" [1 cm]
Found in Boyaca department of Colombia in secondary forests at elevations around 3000 meters as a mini-miniature sized, cold growing epiphyte with erect, slender ramicauls enveloped by 4 to 5, minutely ciliate lepanthiform sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, thickly coriaceous, narrowly elliptical, acute, cuneate below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the fall and winter on a slender, .24 to .32" [6 to 8 mm] long, single flowered inflorescence arising from the apex of the ramicaul.
This species is closely related to the aberrant Lepanthopsis apoda, from which it is most easily distinguished by the lateral sepals that are not a concave synsepal, but instead, are flat and diverging, giving the flower a stellate appearance. The lateral sepals of L. apoda are approximate and form a deeply concave recess at the base. In addition, the dorsal sepal is ovate, not narrowly triangular, and the disc of the lip is flat, not concave above the base beneath the column. Lepanthopsis apoda is found in a very wide distribution through the Andes from Venezuela into Bolivia, but nowhere is it common. Almost always, only a single plant is encountered. Lepanthopsis dewildei is found abundantly in only one area in the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia." Luer 1994
Synonyms Expedicula dewildei ( Luer & R.Escobar ) Luer 2005
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XI Systematics of Lepanthes Subgenus Brachycladium and Pleurothallis Subgenus Aenigma, Subgenus Elongata and Subgenus Kranzlinella Luer 1994 Drawing fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVII Dryadella and Acronia section Macrophyllae-Fasiculatae Luer 2005 as Expedicula dewildei
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