Masdevallia attenuata Rchb. f. 1871 SUBGENUS Masdevallia SECTION Minutae Rchb.f Ex Woolw. 1896
Photo by Dale and Deni Borders
LATE
to EARLY 
Common Name The Pointed-Petal Masdevallia
Flower Size about 1" [about 2.5 cm]
Found in Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador in cloud forests at an altitude of 700 to 2400 meters as a miniature sized, warm to cold growing, epiphytic species with short, erect, slender stems enveloped basallly by 2 to 3 thin, close, tubular sheaths carrying a single apical, elliptic-oblong, conduplicate, petiolate leaf that gradually narrows below to a subpetiolate base and blooms in the late winter and early springwith 1 flower per 2 to 3" [5 to 7.5 cm] long, erect inflorescence that is usually shorter than the leaves and has waxy, long-lasting, floral scented, bell shaped flowers.
This species is very similar and may be conspecific with to Masdevallia laucheana but it occurs ar lower elevations, has shorter inflorescence and smaller flowers with sharper lines on the sepals.
Synonyms Acinopetala attenuata (Rchb. f.) Luer 2006;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Systematics of Masdevallia Vol 2 Luer 1986; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1544 Atwood 1993 drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 58 No 4 1993 photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXII Systematics of Masdevallia Part 3 Luer 2001 drawing fide; Madevallia's in Kleur Vol 1 P M Oversteegen, Eisses & A P Sijm 2001 photo fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 Dodson 2002 photo fide; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXVIII Luer 2006 as Acinopetala attenuata; AOS Bulletin Vol 78 #4 2009 photo fide; Orchidaceae Masdevallia and Affiliates Dodson & Luer 2009 as Acinopetala atttenuata drawing fide; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #2 2016; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 #9 2019 drawing fide; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 2 Lacaena to Pteroglossa Pupulin 2020 photo fide
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