Lepanthopsis rinkei Luer 2002 SUBGENUS Lepanthopsis SECTION Lepanthopsis
Photo by © Karl Siegler plant grown by Byron Rinke
HOLOTYPE Drawing by Carl Luer © and the Epidendra Orchid Website
Common Name Rinke's Lepanthopsis [American Orchid Enthusiast current]
Flower Size .1" [2 mm]
Found in Panama as a mini-miniature sized, cool growing epiphyte with an erect, stout ramicaul enveloped by 5 to 6, ciliate, lepanthiform sheaths and carrying a single erect, coriaceous, broadly elliptical, obtuse to rounded, contracted below to a petiolate base leaf that blooms in the fall on a filiform, 1 to 1.2" [2.5 to 3 cm] long including the .8 to .92" [2 to 2.3 cm] long peduncle, congested, simultaneously opening, several flowered inflorescence arising from near the apex of the ramicaul with the flowers arranged in 2 rows.
"Vegetatively large for the genus, the leaf and ramicaul are similar but larger to !Lepanthopsis floripecten . The leaf of L rinkei is broader than any other species in the genus. A congested, 2 ranked raceme is shorter than the leaf. The obtuse dorsal sepal, slightly diverging, oblong lateral sepals, minute petals and a broadly rounded, large lip are most similar to Lepanthopsis melanantha . The disc of the lip is featureless." Luer 2002
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXIV A first Centrury of new species of Stelis Ecuador Luer 2002 Drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 4 2003 photo fide;
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