Masdevallia limax Luer 1978 SUBGENUS Masdevallia SECTION Masdevallia SUBSECTION Saltatrices [Rchb.f] Luer 1986
Photo by © Tanya Romanova and her Flickr Orchid Photo Webpage
Photos by Dale and Deni Borders.
TYPE Drawing by Carl Luer
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Common Name The Slug-Like Masdevallia
Flower Size 3/4" [2 cm]
Found in southwestern Ecuador at altitudes of 1400 to 2400 meters as a mini-miniature sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte blooming with blackish, erect, slender ramicauls enveloped by 2 to 3 loose, tubular sheaths carrying a single, apcial, elliptical, acute leaf with the base narrowly cuneate into the petiole and blooms in the summer and fall on an erect to horizontal, slender, 5" [13 cm] long, solitary flowered inflorescence arising from low on the ramicaul with a bract near the base and a tubular floral bract holding the long-lasting, waxy flower at or just amid the leaves.
Very similar to M maxilimax but it differs in the larger flowers with shorter tails and a longer sepaline tube. Also similar to M mendozae but it has a larger flowers with thicker, shorter tails.
Best characterized by the bright orange, tubular, arcuate flowers, that are inflated below a constriction between the middle and distal quarter of the tube.
Low summer temperatures, cold to warm and good air circulation keep this little gem happy.
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Systematics of Masdevallia Vol 2 Luer 1986; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXIII Systematics of Masdevallia Part 4 Luer 2002 drawing fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 COS 2002; AOS Bulletin Vol 56 No 11 1987 photo fide; Masdevallia's in Kleur Vol 1 P M Oversteegen, Eisses & A P Sijm 2001 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 9 2003 photo fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 Dodson 2002 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 72 No 4 2008 photo ; Orchidaceae Masdevallia and Affiliates Dodson & Luer 2009 drawing fide; Mille et Une Mini Orchideees Roguenant 2009 photo fide; Masdevallia in Detail Vol 5 Sijm etal 2010 photo/drawing fide; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide;
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