Pelexia funckiana (A.Rich. & Galeotti) Schltr. 1918 SECTION Pelexia
Photos by © Karl Senghas
EARLY 
Common Name Funk's Pelexia [German Orchid Collector 1800's]
Flower Size .4" [1 cm]
Found in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia in wet montane forests at elevations of 850 to 1500 meters as a medium sized, warm to cool growing terrestrial with 3 to 6, obliquely ovate to elliptic, acuminate, gradually narrowing below into the conduplicate, petiolate base leaves that blooms in the winter through spring on an erect, terminal, peduncle 8.4" [21 cm] long , glabrous below pubescent above, enveloped by 5 to 7, clasping, herbaceous, translucent, glabrous, acuminate sheathing bracts, rachis 1.6" [4 cm] long, simultaneously 10 to 25 flowered inflorescence with lanceolate, acuminate, translucent shorter than the flowers floral bracts.
Similar to Pelexia laxa buit differs in the outline of the leaves, in the shorter petioles and in the trilobulate or denticulate apex of the rostellum.
Allied to Pelexia congesta but differs from it and all other Central American species in its congested habit, cellular-pubescent anterior surface of the column, the prominent conical spur and the large flowers.
Synonyms Gyrostachys funckiana (A.Rich. & Galeotti) Kuntze 1891; Pelexia callosa Ames 1924; Pelexia guatemalensis Schltr. 1918; Pelexia hondurensis Ames 1923; Pelexia pringlei Fernald 1900; Pelexia subaequalis Ames 1923; *Spiranthes funckiana A.Rich. & Galeotti 1845;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI
nn. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 3, 3: 32 A.Rich. & Galeotti 1845 as Spiranthes funckiana
Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 664 Kuntze 1891 as Gyrostachys funckiana
Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 35: 562 Fernald 1900 as Pelexia pringlei
* Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 15: 197 Schlechter 1918
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 15: 197 Schlechter 1918 as Pelexia guatemalensis
Schedul. Orchid. 2: 4 Ames 1923 as Pelexia hondurensis
Schedul. Orchid. 2: 5 Ames 1923 as Pelexia subaequalis
Schedul. Orchid. 7: 15 Ames 1924 as Pelexia callosa
The Orchids of Panama: 52/158 L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946 as Spiranthes funckiana;
Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 1 1969 as Spiranthes funkiana drawing good;
Las Orquedias De El Salvador Vol 2 Hamer 1974 as Spiranthes funkiana drawing/photo ok;
ORQUIDEA (Méx. ) 10 (1) ABRIL 1986 photo fide;
Icones Orchidacearum I Plate 84 Salazar 1990 drawing fide;
Icones Plantarum Tropicarum Plate 1245 Hamer 1985 drawing fide;
Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 41 pg 2565 - 2625 Brieger 2001 photo fide;
Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003;
Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018
Materials to the Orchid Flora of Colombia Vol 2: 345 Szlachetko & Kolanowska 2019
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