Lepanthes dorae J.S.Moreno, Gal.-Tar. & Zuluaga 2022 SUBGENUS Lepanthes SECTION Lepanthes SUBSECTION Lepanthes SERIES Lepanthes
Photo by Š R.G. Tarazona/TYPE Drawing By J S Moreno Four new species of Lepanthes (Pleurothallidinae) from the southwestern Andes in Colombia
Common Name or Meaning Dora's Lepanthes [honors Dora Alicia Londoņo Hoyos Doņa Dora, a woman who has developed a spot for bird watching in the km 55, El Descanso, El Queremal, Valle del Cauca Department, one of the locations where the new species was found]
Flower Size .16" [4 mm] wide
Found in Valle de Cauca department of Colombia in humid secondary forests at elevations around 1700 meters as a miniature sized, caespitose epiphyte with slender, erect ramicauls enveloped by 8 to 15, acuminate, furrowed, long-ciliate lepanthicform sheaths and carrying a single, apical, coriaceous, erect, elliptical, attenuate, 3 main veined, subplicate above the base, emarginate apically with an abaxial apiculum in the middle, obtuse and contracted below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the winter on a congested, distichous, held appressed to the abaxial surface of the leaf by a filiform, terete, .68" to 1.043" [1.652.68 cm] long, peduncle borne near the apex of the ramicaul, rachis .432" [1.08 cm] long, successively single, 13 to 15 flowered, inflorescence with conical, acuminate, minutely verrucose, shorter than the pedicel floral bracts.
"Lepanthes dorae is most similar to Lepanthes pachyglossa from Panama (Luer 1985), which is characterized by having the petals transversely bilobed with the upper lobe oblong-rounded and the lower lobe smaller, broadly-uncinate (vs. the upper lobe broadly-oblong; the lower lobe triangular, falcate towards the apex, rounded), and the lip with the appendix with a minute, external appendix (vs. a large bilobed appendix located into a cleft cavity on the anterior surface). From Colombia two species are very similar. Lepanthes porracea Luer & R.Escobar is distinguished by its petals which are transversely broadly oblong with rounded apices (vs. the upper lobe broadly-oblong; the lower lobe triangular, falcate towards the apex), the blades of the lip flat, elliptical with the ends rounded (vs. the blades with the base obtuse and the apices acute) and with a small and densely pubescent appendix (vs. large bilobed appendix located into a cleft cavity on the anterior surface). Lepanthes troglodytes Luer & R.Escobar is recognized by its larger leaves, the lip with the blades flat, acute (vs. clavate, the base obtuse and the apices acute), and a hinged oblong pubescent appendix (vs. an oblong bilobed pubescent appendix)." J.S.Moreno, Gal.-Tar. & Zuluaga 2022
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Four new species of Lepanthes (Pleurothallidinae) from the southwestern Andes in Colombia Drawing/photo fide;
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