Lepanthes micropetala L.O.Williams 1940 GENUS Lepanthes SUBGENUS Brachycladium SECTION Amplectentes Luer 1994
Photo by © Sebastian Viera Uribe
TYPE Drawing by L. O. Williams
Common Name or Meaning The Very Small Petal Lepanthes
Flower Size .2" [5 mm]
Found in Colombia and Ecuador in cloud forests at elevations around 2400 to 2700 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, minutely short ciliate, entire, broadly elliptical to suborbicular, obtuse to rounded apically, 3 veined, contracted below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the winter and spring on an ascending, slender, .04 to .08" [1 to 2 mm] long, single flowered inflorescence occasionally followed by a second flower.
"Vegetatively, L. micropetala is similar to other members of the subgenus, but somewhat smaller in size. It is somewhat variable in its wide distribution in all three cordilleras of Colombia and into southern Ecuador. It is distinguished by the small, broadly elliptical to orbicular, minutely short-ciliate leaves; small flowers with obtuse, non-denticulate, essentially glabrous sepals; microscopic petals; and a subcordate-reniform lip that surrounds the column." Luer 1994
Synonyms Andinia micropetala (L.O.Williams) Karremans & S.V.Uribe 2017 ; Brachycladium micropetalum (L.O.Williams) Luer 2005; Neooreophilus micropetalus (L.O.Williams) Archila 2009; Oreophilus micropetalus (L.O.Williams) Archila 2009; Penducella micropetala (L.O.Williams) Luer 2010
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Bot. Mus. Leafl. Harvard Univ. 9: 4. 1940. Wms.; 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 Selbyana 29(2): 202-8. Archila 2009 as Oreophila micropetala; Orchid Digest 74(2): 69 Luer 2010 as Penducella micropetala; Flora of Ecuador No 88 Lepanthes and affiliates Dodson & Luer 2011 as Penducella micropetala drawing fide; Pleurothallids Neotropical Jewels Vol 1 Karremans & Viera 2020 as Andinia micropetala photo fide; Orquideas de Farallones de Cali Galindo-Tarazona, Haelterman, Zuluaga Trochez and Sebastian Moreno 2020 as Andinia micropetala photo fide
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