Masdevallia hystrix Luer & Hirtz 1986 SUBGENUS Masdevallia SECTION Coriaceae SUBSECTION Coriaceae Rchb.f 1874
Photo by © Tom Ballinger and his Flickr Orchid Photo Website
TYPE Drawing by Carl Luer
Common Name The Porcupine Masdevallia [refers to the prickly lip]
Flower Size 2" [5 cm]
Found in Loja province of Ecuador in tall forests at elevations around 2500 meters as a small sized, cold growing epiphyte with stout, erect to suberect ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 loose, tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect to suberect, coriaceous, subconduplicate, narrowly oblong, obtuse, cuneate below into the indistinct, subpetiolate base leaf that blooms in the spring on a suberect, stout, 1.6 to 3.2" [4 to 8 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence arising from low on the ramicaul with a basal bract and a tubular floral bract.
Synonyms Byrsella hystrix (Luer & Hirtz) Luer 2006
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXI Systematics of Masdevallia Part 2 Luer 2000 drawing fide; Masdevallia's in Kleur Vol 1 P M Oversteegen, Eisses & A P Sijm 2001 photo fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 Dodson 2002 photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVIII Luer 2006 as Byrsella hystrix; Orchidaceae Masdevallia and Affiliates Dodson & Luer 2009 as byrsella hystrix drawing ok; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide;
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