Masdevallia odontocera Luer & R. Escobar 1982 SUBGENUS Masdevallia SECTION Masdevallia SUBSECTION Masdevallia
Photos by © Andreas Philipp
TYPE Drawing by Carl Luer
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Common Name The Tusked Masdevallia [refers to the tusklike tails of the lateral sepals]
Flower Size 2"+ [5 cm+]
Found in northeastern Colombia in the department of Norte de Santander in cloud forests on mossy branches and trunks of small trees at elevations of 1800 to 2200 meters as a miniature sized, cool to cold growing, caespitose epiphyte with slender, blackish ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 loose, tubular sheaths carrying a single, apical, erect to suberect, coriaceous, petiolate, elliptical, acute leaf that is cuneate below into a slender, blackish petiole that blooms in the spring on a suberect, lender, 3/5" to 1 4/5" [1.5 to 4.6 cm] long, solitary flowered inflorescence arising from low on the ramicaul with a basal bract and a floral bract and the solitary, showy flower is held well below the leaves.
This species can produce more than one inflorescence from each ramicaul in succession. Characterized by having the single, short-pedunculate, showy flower with obvious purple stripes on a yellow dorsal sepal and rose-purple, narrowly acute and acuminate lateral sepals into white upswept tails that are longer than the decurved tail of the dorsal sepal.
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orquideologia Vol 16 No 1 1983 drawing fide; Systematics of Masdevallia Vol 2 Luer 1986; 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; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo fide; Libro Rojo de Plantas De Colombia Vol 6 Primera Parte Saenz 2007 photo fide; Orchids Masdevallia with its segregates including Dracula Zelenko 2014 photo fide;
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