Microchilus longibracteatus (Soroka) E.C.Smidt & M.W.Chase 2021
TYPE Drawings by © Soroka and Selbyana 27: 11 Soroka 2006 as Ligeophila longibracteata
Common Name The Long Bracted Microchilus [refers to the very long floral bracts]
Flower Size .12" [3 mm]
Found in Azuay province of Ecuador in montane cloud forests at elevations around 1600 meters as as a small sized, cool growing terrestrial with a prostrate, creeping rhizome giving rise to an increasingly ascendant, then erect stem carrying 6 to 10 lanceoalte, moderately involute, acuminate, lightly crispate, medium green with single broad, pale silvery green longitudinal stripe along midvein, petiolate base leaves that blooms in the summer on an erect, terminal, almost sessile, short, pale purple, peduncle .4" [1 cm] long, provided with 2 to 3 sheathing bracts, rachis to 2" [5 cm] long, pubescent, tightly congested, 30 to 40 flowered inflorescence with conspicuous, lanceolate, acute, three times longer than the ovary floral bracts and carrying extrorse flowers.
"The flowers of M longibracteata possess several distinctive characteristics that set this species apart from all others in the genus. The floral bracts that are more than 3 times longer than the ovary. The relatively broad and short spur is ellipsoidal in shape. The margins of the labellum's mesochile are prominently undulate, adjacent to which is a pair of narrow serpentine ridges on the external surface of the lip. The unclawed labellum's sessile, semilunate epichile is shaped overall much like the blade of a common garden hoe. The dorsal and lateral sides of the column axis are dilated distally and then abruptly truncate at the articulated base of the anther. This species displays an interesting leaf color pattern that serves to increase its light-capture efficiency. The involute leaf blades bear a broad longitudinal band of pale silvery green along the midvein with a spargate border. At this border, it intermingles with the darker green of the leaf margins, forming numerous inclusions.
Synonyms Aspidogyne longibracteata (Soroka) Ormerod 2008; Ligeophila longibracteata Soroka 2006
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Selbyana 27: 8 Soroka 2006 as Ligeophila longibracteata
Selbyana 27: 10 Soroka 2006 as Ligeophila longibracteata Drawing
Selbyana 27: 11 Soroka 2006 as Ligeophila longibracteata Drawing
Harvard Pap. Bot. 13: 57 Ormerod 2008 as Aspidogyne longibracteata
Materials to the Orchid Flora of Colombia Vol 1: 411 Szlachetko & Kolanowska 2017 asAspidogyne longibracteatus drawing fide;
* Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 197: 341 E.C.Smidt & M.W.Chase 2021
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