Phreatia gracilis Schltr. 1913 SECTION Phreatia

Drawing by Schlechter and The Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Jany Renz Herbaria Website

Common Name The Graceful Phreatia

Flower Size

Found in New Guinea on trees in forests at elevations around 1000 meters as a mini-miniature sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte with almost no stem carrying 4 to 6, erect-spreading, oblique-ligulate, obtuse, narrowing below into the base leaves that blooms in the fall on an erect-spreading, slim, peduncle gracefully few bracted, equal to a little shorter than the leaves, 2" to 3.6" [3 to 8 cm] long, subsecund, laxly 10 to 20 flowered inflorescence with lanceolate, acuminate, shorter than the ovary floral bracts.

Schlechter states that the flowers are white and the leaves of this species are not glaucous but otherwise similar to the species P scaphioglossa and P imitans. They differ most however in the shape of the petals.

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Orchidaceae of German New Guinea Schlechter 1913 drawing fide

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------