Masdevallia chontalensis Rchb. f. 1878 SUBGENUS Masdevallia SECTION Minutae Rchb.f Ex Woolw. 1896

Photo by Eric Hunt

Plant and Flowers in situ Costa Rica

Photo by Wilfried Löderbusch

to

Common Name Chontal Masdevallia [Nicaragua county]

Flower Size 1/4" [7.5 mm]

Found from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and only Ecuador in South America in premontane and lower montane cloud forest high in the canopies of trees at elevations of 500 to 2000 meters as a mini-miniature sized, warm to cool growing orchid with a short, erect, slender ramicaul enveloped basally by 2 to 3 loose, tubular sheaths carrying a single, erect, subcoriaceous, narrow, linear-obovate leaf that narrrows below the middle into the subpetiolate base which blooms in the spring with a slender, erect, 1 3/4" [4.5 cm] long inflorescence arising from low on the ramicaul with a bract below the middle and 2 thin, imbricating floral bracts carrying 2 simultaneous flowers held higher than the leaves .

Synonyms Acinopetala chontalensis (Rchb. f.) Luer 2006; Masdevallia diantha Schlechter 1918

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Lankester's Epidendra Website CR ; *Otia Bot. Hamburg. 1: 17. Rchb.f 1878; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 14. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923 as M diantha; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 92. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923 as M diantha; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 169. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923 as M diantha; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946; AOS Bulletin Vol 28 No 9 1959 photo ok; Thesarus Masdevalliarum Vol 1 Luer & Treschslin 1983 watercolor fide; Systematics of Masdevallia Vol 2 Luer 1986; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1037 Dodson 1984 drawing ok; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1546 Atwood 1993 drawing ok; Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXII Systematics of Masdevallia Part 3 Luer 2001 drawing fide; Masdevallia's in Kleur Vol 1 P M Oversteegen, Eisses & A P Sijm 2001 photo fide; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVIII Luer 2006 as Acinopetala chontalensis; Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 2 Morales 2009 photo fide; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide; Diversity of Pleurothallidinae in Guatemala: An Endangered Orchid Subtribe with High Economic and Horticultural Potentials Edgar Mo Mo, Cetzal, Basu and Vega 2017 photo fide; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 photo fide; Lankesteriana 19(1). 31 - 55 2019 photo fide; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 2 Lacaena to Pteroglossa Pupulin 2020 photo fide

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