Pleurothallis cauda-phocae Luer & Hirtz 1988 SUBGENUS Pleurothallis SECTION Pleurothallis SUBSECTION Acroniae SERIES Amphygiae Luer 1998
Photo courtesy of © Ecuagenera
TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer
Common Name The Tail Of the Seal Pleurothallis [refers to the callus of the lip]
Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]
Found in Imbabura province of Ecuador in wet cloud forests at elevations around 1250 meters as a miniature sized, cool growing, caespitose epiphyte with slender, erect, round in cross-section ramicauls enveloped basally by close tubular sheaths above the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, ovate, acute, basally rounded into the sessile base leaf that blooms in the winter on erect, arising through a prostrate spathe at the base of the leaf, fascile of solitary successive flowered, .88 to 1.2" [2.2 to 3 cm] long inflorescence with shorter than the pedicel floral bracts.
"Characterized by the ovate, acute leaves and slender ramicauls. The long-pedicellate, solitary flowers are borne in a fascile at the base of the leaf. The dorsal sepal and synsepal are concave and acuminate, the petals are large and falcate, the lip bears a prominent, protruding, two winged callus. The pointed basal lobes are to either side of the cylindrical, essentially fooless column." Luer 1996
Synonyms Acronia cauda-phocae (Luer & Hirtz) Luer 2005
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Lindleyana 3;137 Luer & Escobar 1988 drawing fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III. Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVII Luer 2005 as Acronia cauda-phocae
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