Pleurothallis chloroleuca Lindl. 1846
SUBGENUS Pleurothallis SECTION Pleurothallis SUBSECTION Pleurothallis SERIES Pleurothallis Luer 1986
Photos by © Arturo Carillo
HOLOTYPE Drawing by J Linden Collection
Drawing by Carl Luer
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Common Name The Greenish White Pleurothallis
Flower Size 2/5" [1 cm]
Found in Cundianmarca, Santander, Antioquia, Valle de Cauca and Caldas departments of Colombia, Venezuela and Carchi and Imbabura provinces of northern Ecuador in the eastern cordillera of the Andes at elevations of 1000 to 2500 meters as a small to medium sized, cool to cold growing, densely caespitose epiphyte with stout, erect ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 tubular sheaths and another below the middle carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptical-ovate, acute to subacute leaf that is cuneate basally into a distinct petiole that blooms in the summer and fall with a short, arising from a spathe, fasciculate inflorescence with a cluster of simultaneous single flowered inflorescence with thin, infundibular, shorter than the pedicel floral bracts.
"Thick masses of plants over a 40" [1 meter] across sometimes accumulate. At the base of the petiole of a large, elliptical leaf, a usually dense cluster of single, pale green flowers are borne. The dorsal sepal and synsepal are acuminate, the petals are narrowly attenuate, and the lip is subquadrate, centrally concave, broadly obtuse to truncate and apiculate. The simlar P flaveola is distinguished by smaller, yellow flowers, subacute sepals, broader petals and an ovate lip with the subacute apex decurved." Luer 1998
Synonyms Humboldtia chloroleuca (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Humboldtia ventricosa (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Humboltia chloroleuca (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Humboltia ventricosa (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Pleurothallis reichenbachiana Schltr. 1921; Pleurothallis rhomboglossa Rchb. f. 1888; Pleurothallis ventricosa Lindl. 1859; Pleurothallis wendlandiana Rchb. f 1888
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
*Orchid. Linden. 2. Lindl., 1846;
Xenia Orchidaceae Vol 3 Reichenbach 1892 as P wendlandiana drawing fide;
Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959 as Pleurothallis wendlandiana not = P ruscifolia;
AOS Bulletin Vol 33 #8 1964 as P wendlandiana; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #9 1967 as P wendlandianum =P ruscifolia; AOS Bulletin Vol 38 No 6 1969 as P wendlandiana; Selbyana 3: 196 Luer 1976 P ventricosa drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 267 Dodson 1980 as Pleurothallis ventricosa drawing ok; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Systematics of Pleurothallis Vol III Luer 1986; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Systematics of Pleurothallis Vol III Luer 1986 as Pleurothallis ventricosa; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 3 COS 1991 photo fide; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 66 #2 2002 drawing fide; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo fide; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Orquideología Vol 26 #2 2009 photo ok;
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