Platystele apoloae Zambrano & Solano 2018
Photo/TYPE Drawing by Javier Zambrano
Common Name Apolo's Platystele [Carmen Apolo Bustamante, orchid grower from Marcabelí, El Oro province Ecuador current]
Flower Size .12" [3 mm]
Found in El Oro province of Ecuador in the transition between the semi-deciduous premontane and evergreen premontane forests at elevations around 400 meters as a mini-miniature sized, hot growing, densely caespitose epiphyte with terete ramicauls enveloped by imbricate, chartaceous, persistent sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, fleshy, green to green with purple spots, ovate in youth becoming oblong-ovate at maturity, obtuse, emarginate, & mucronate apically, abruptly attenuate below into the short, petiolate base leaf that blooms at most any time of the year on an erect, arising from the annulus of the stem, arising through a conduplicate, persistent, chartaceous spathe, peduncle short to .4" [1 cm] long, provided with 2 to 3, tubular, imbricate, chartaceous, persistent bracts, rachis flexuous, progressively elongating over time, up to 4" [10 cm] long, a successively single, many flowered inflorescence with acute, persistent, scarious, shorter than the pedicel floral bracts and carrying small, extended, stellate flowers.
"The most similar species with the new taxon is the Ecuadorian Platystele cornejoi which can be distinguished from P. apoloae by its shorter inflorescence (less 1.6" vs up to 4" [4.0 cm vs. up to 10 cm]), shorter pedicels (.4 to .6" vs .6 to 1.2" [1.0–1.5 mm vs. 1.5–3.0 mm]), smaller sepals with an obtuse apex (.4 vs .52 to .68" [1.0 mm vs. 1.3–1.7 mm], acute), smaller, not oblique, acute, marginally entire petals (.32 vs .48 to .64" [0.8 mm vs. 1.2–1.6 mm], oblique, acuminate, marginally erose), yellow or yellow and red stained lip provided with a triangular callus (vs. purple, with a rounded callus), yellow-green and concolor column (vs. light yellow with purple on the stigmatic lobes)." Zambrano, Cornejo & Solano 2018
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Phytotaxa 372 (1): 088–096 Zambrano, Solano and Cornejo 2018 drawing/photo fide;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
