Lepanthes lupula Luer & Hirtz 1984 GENUS Lepanthes SUBGENUS Brachycladium SECTION Amplectentes Luer 1994 Photo by © Alexander Hirtz
Side View of Flower Photo by © Benjamin González Echeverry
TYPE Drawing by Carl Luer
LATE
EARLY 
Common Name or Meaning The Little Wolf Lepanthes [Refers to the lip and column shape being like a wolf]
Flower Size .2" [5 mm]
Found in northwestern Ecuador in cloud forests at elevations around 1950 to 2100 meters as a mini-miniature sized, cold growing epiphyte with pendant, long repent, occasionally branching rhizomes giving rise to abbreviated ramicauls concealed by a long-spiculate lepanthiform sheath and carrying a single, apical, descending, coriaceous, shortly and sparsely pubescent, broadly elliptical, subacute to obtuse apically, 3 veined, contracted below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the late summer and early fall on an ascending, slender, .08 to .1" [2 to 2.5mm] long, singleflowered inflorescence.
"This species, closely allied to the sympatric L. micropetala, is apparently endemic on the western slopes of Mt. Pichincha in northwestern Ecuador. Lepanthes lupula is distinguished by pendent chains of small, sparsely pubescent leaves, and small conspicuously denticulate sepals. The petals are microscopic. The acute lateral lobes of the horseshoe-shaped lip stand erect to either side of the column, Lepanthes lupula is also similar to the Colombian L. catella, but the larger, ovate petals of the latter distinguish it." Luer 1994
Synonyms Andinia lupula (Luer & Hirtz) Karremans & S.V.Uribe 2017; Brachycladium lupulum (Luer & Hirtz) Luer, 2005; Neooreophilus lupulus (Luer & Hirtz) Archila 2009; Oreophilus lupulus (Luer & Hirtz) Archila 2009; Penducella lupula (Luer & Hirtz) Luer 2010
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull., 53(11): 1162. Luer 1984 Drawing/photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XI Systematics of Lepanthes Subgenus Brachycladium and Pleurothallis subgenus Aenigma, Elongatia and Kraenzlingella Luer 1994 drawing fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVII Dryadella and Acronia section Macrophyllae-Fasiculatae Luer 2005 as Brachycladium luulum; Selbyana 29(2): 203 Archila 2009 as Oreophila lupula; Orchid Digest 74(2): 69 Luer 2010 as Penducella lupula; Flora of Ecuador No 88 Lepanthes and affiliates Dodson & Luer 2011 as Penducella hippocrepica drawing fide; Pleurothallids Neotropical Jewels Vol 1 Karremans & Viera 2020 as Andinia lupula photo fide; Orquideas de Farallones de Cali Galindo-Tarazona, Haelterman, Zuluaga Trochez and Sebastian Moreno 2020 as Andinia lupula photo fide;
LANKESTERIANA 23(2). Karremans, Moreno, Gil-Amaya, Morales, Espinosa, Mesa, Restrepo, Rincon-Gonzales, Serna, Sierra-Ariza and Vieira-Uribe 2023 as Andinia lupula photo fide;
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