Masdevallia datura Luer & R. Vásquez 1983 SUBGENUS Masdevallia SECTION Masdevallia SUBSECTION Masdevallia
Photo courtesy of © Lourens Grobler
Photos by © Eric Hunt
TYPE Drawing by Carl Luer
Common Name The Datura-Like Flower Masdevallia
Flower Size 3.5" [8.25 cm]
Found in Bolivia in cloud forests at an elevation of 2500 meters as a small sized, cold growing epiphyte with slender, erect ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 thin, tubular sheaths carrying a single, apical, coriaceous, erect, dark green, narrowly elliptical, long petiolate, acute apically leaf that has the base narrowly cuneate into the petiole and blooms in the spring a slender, suberect, 2 2/5" to 3 3/5" [6 to 9 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence arising from low on the ramicaul with a bract near the base and a tubular floral bract that carries the large, showy, heavily scented flower at mid-leaf.
This species can be distinguished from others by long, narrow leaves with the inflorescence half as long, a large, white, fragrant flower with a funnel shaped sepaline tube with equally long slender tails, narrow petals with a thick retrose process beyond the base, and an ovate and acute lip enveloped deep within the tube and out of sight.
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Systematics of Masdevallia Vol 2 Luer 1986; AOS Bulletin Vol 64 No 7 1995 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 65 Vol 7 1996; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXII Systematics of Masdevallia Part 3 Luer 2001 drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 72 No 4 2008 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 82 #3 2013 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 80 #12 2011 photo fide; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide;
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