Platystele pamelae Baquero & Zuchan 2017
Comparison Photo to P alucitae
Photos/TYPE Drawing by Luis Baquero
Common Name Pamela's Platystele [in honor Pamela Yela, daughter of don Héctor Yela (Park Ranger of the Dracula Reserve in the Carchi Province), who was responsible of getting her father interested in orchids.]
Flower Size .4" [1 cm]
Found in Carchi province of Ecuador in montane cloud forests on branches thickly covered with moss and lichens at elevations around 1836 to 2310 meters as a mini-miniature sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte with erect, terete, abbreviated ramicauls enveloped by 2 to 3 ribbed, imbricating sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptic, conduplicate, with 2 ribs parallel and close to the entire margin of the blade and a mid rib, mucronate with a apiculus, narrowing below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the summer on an erect to suberect, arising laterally from the ramicaul, terete, flexuous, distichous, peduncle slender, .44 to 1" [1.1 to 2.5 cm] long, raceme to 4.6" [11.5 cm] long, successively single, few flowered inflorescence with thin, acute, conduplicate, shorter than the pedicel floral bracts.
"The strong resemblance and shared habitat with Platystele alucitae could indicate shared ancestry of those two species. Both species prefer similar environments. Morphologically both species share long inflorescences , which, in case of P. alucitae, can reach up to 7.2" [18 cm] (Luer 1990), a translucent ovate dorsal sepal, which exhibits a concave indention at the lower third and the connate, narrowly ovate lateral sepals. Nonetheless both species can be easily distinguished by the features of the leaves, inflorescence and flowers. Platystele pamelae and P. alucitae both show elliptical to narrowly ellipticalobovate leaves. The ribs in these two species is what distinguishes them from each other. While P. alucitae has a typical conduplicate leaf with one central rib, P. pamelae has three-ribbed leaves, of which the outer two ribs are located closely to the entire margin of the leaf. Another distinguishing trait can be found in the slightly deflexed pedicels in the inflorescence of P. pamelae, while those of P. alucitae are rather linear. The sepals with clavate cilia around the margins can be found in P. pamelae, which are similar to those in P. baqueroi Jost & Iturralde, is another trait which distinguishes P. pamelae from P. alucitae. Finally the ligulate, centrally deep sulcated and slightly deflexed, sulfur-colored lip distinguishes P. pamelae from all other species in the genus Platystele, and clearly from the most similar species P. alucitae, which has an ovate, obtuse, lightly excavate centrally lip. Platystele stevensonii Luer shows the most similar lip to P. pamelae in the genus, but which is just shallowly sulcate and does not exhibit any curvature. The differences in the form of lip and glenion between P. pamelae and P. alucitae might indicate a reproductive specialization, especially useful considering the sympatrical growth." Baquero & Zuchan 2017
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * LANKESTERIANA 17(2): 246 Baquero & Zuchan 2017photo/drawing fide; LANKESTERIANA 19(1): 7. Baquero & Verkovitch 2019. as P aff pamelae photo good; Platystele finleyae, Pleurothallidinae, A New Species From Northwesten Ecuador Monteros, Restrepo and Baquero 2022 photo fide
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