Pelexia laxa (Poepp. & Endl.) Lindl. 1840
Photo by © Dalton Holland Baptista
Photo by © Troy Meyers and his Meyers Conservancy Website
Common Name The Lax Pelexia
Flower Size .4" [1 cm]
Found in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Surinam, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina in rainforests at elevations of 200 to 2100 meters as a medium to large sized, hot to cool growing terrestrial with fleshy, fasciculate roots giving rise to a few basal, somewhat thinly, elongate petiolate, dark green mottled white leaves and blooms in the summer on an erect, reddish, pubescent, many flowered inflorescence enveloped by various acuminate, pubescent bracts.
CAUTION SEE ALSO Pelexia maculata which is often cited as a synonym of P laxa but it warrants separation, as it differs mostly in the broadly ellliptic leaves, the oblanceolate lateral sepals and the more pronouned helmut formed by the dorsal sepal and the connivent petals.
Synonyms Gyrostachys longipetiolata (Rchb.f.) Kuntze 1891; Pelexia curvicalcarata (C.Schweinf.) Garay in ?; Pelexia lindmaniana (Kraenzl.) Schltr. 1920; Pelexia longepetiolata (Rchb.f.) Schltr. 1918; Pelexia weirii (Rchb.f.) Schltr. 1920; Spiranthes curvicalcarata C.Schweinf. 1941; Spiranthes laxa (Poepp. & Endl.) C.Schweinf. 1941; Spiranthes longepetiolata Rchb.f. 1866; Spiranthes longipetiolata Rchb.f. 1866; Spiranthes weirii Rchb.f. 1870; *Stenorrhynchos laxum Poepp. & Endl. 1836; Stenorrhynchos lindmanianum Kraenzl. 1911; Stenorrhynchos weirii (Rchb.f.) Cogn. 1895
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Xenia Orchidaceae vol 2 Rchb.f 1873 as Spiranthes weirii drawing fide; Flora Brasilica Fasc 8 Vol XII II 13-43 Orchidaceae Hoehne 1945 as P lindmaniana; Brasilica Fasc 8 Vol XII II 13-43 Orchidaceae Hoehne 1945 as P lindmaniana drawing hmm; AOS Bulletin Vol 31 #8 as Spiranthes maculata photo good; 1962 Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 6 Dunsterville & Garay 1976 as Spiranthes funckiana drawing fide; Flora de Venezuela Volumen 15 Parte 3 Foldats 1970 as Spiranthes funckiana drawing fide; Orchidaceae Brasilenses Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 as P lindmaniana drawing fide; Flora of Ecuador No 9 225[1] Garay 1978 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 1246 Hamer 1985 drawing hmm; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Bolivia plate 0363 Dodson & Vasquez 1989 drawing ok; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 6 COS 1998 photo no; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 4 Dodson 2003 drawing/photo fide; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003; Orquideologia Vol 25 #2 2008 photo fide; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko & Bermudez 2009 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 79 #5 2010 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 83 #1 2013 as P aff laxa photo good; Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 photo good; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #8 2017 photo not = P maculata; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 as P longipetiolatea; Lankesteriana 19(3) 2019 as Styenorrhynchos lindemanii photo fide
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