Masdevallia brachyantha Schltr. 1929 SUBGENUS Polyantha SECTION Polyanthae SUBSECTION Successiviflorae Luer 2000
Photo by © Gary Meyer
Drawing by © Carl Luer and The Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Jany Renz Herbaria Website
Common Name The Short Flowered Masdevallia [refers to the short inflorescence]
Flower Size .4" [1 cm]
Found in La Paz department of Bolivia at elevations of 1200 to 1400 meters as a mini-miniature sized, cool growing epiphyte with slender, erect ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3, thin, close, tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, narrolwy obovate, subacute, gradually narrowing below into the stout, subpetiolate base leaf that blooms on a slender, arising from low on the ramicaul, witha bract above the base, erect, .8 to 1.2" [2 to 3 cm] long peduncle, successively single, 2 to 3 flowered inflorescence with tubular, imricating, shorter than the pedicel floral bract, holding the single flower at mid-leaf height.
"Distinguished by the short peduncel, round in cross-section and much shorer than teh bnarrow leaf. Two to three reddish brown tailess flowers are produced in succession. The sepals are minutely verrucose within, the petals are thick and obtuse without a protruding callus and the broadly oblong lip has a pair of fin-like, marginal folds that overlie a slight constriction above the middle." Luer 2000
Synonyms Alaticaulia brachyantha (Schltr.) Luer 2006
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXI Systematics of Masdevallia Part 2 Luer 2000 drawing fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXVIII Luer 2006 as Alaticaulia brachyantha; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide;
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