Pleurothallis cordata (Ruiz & Pav.) Lindl. 1830 SUBGENUS Pleurothallis SECTION Macrophyllae-Fasciclatae Lindl. 1859
Photos by © Eric Hunt plant grown by Dan Newman of Hanging Gardens
Photo by © Eric Hunt, plant grown by the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers.
Photo by © Jay Pfahl
Drawing of Fu manch petals by Carl Luer
Flower with wide open downturned petals
Photo by © Daniel Barthelemy and Pl@ntnet Website
Drawing of P monocardia flower with wide open downturned petals
Drawing P monocardia of wide open downturned petals by Carl Luer
Flower with swept back straight petals
Drawing by © Carl Luer
Photo of P cordata subsp rhopalocarpa
Photo by The Ecuagenera Website
Drawing of P cordata subsp rhopalocarpa
Drawing by Carl Luer
to 
Common Name The Heart-Shaped Pleurothallis
Flower Size .2" [5mm]
Found in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia in wet montane cloud forests at elevations of 500 to 3100 meters as a medium sized, warm to cold growing, caespitose terrestrial on steep embankments, lithophyte or epiphyte with slender, erect ramicauls with a tubular sheath below the middle and 2 to 3 basal sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptical, petiolate, acute, lightly tridentate leaf that blooms in the fall and winter on a short, single flowered inflorescence.
"Identified by the large, horizontal, broadly ovate, shortly acuminate, deeply cordate leaves which is not unique in the section. One to several, small,widely expanded, simultaneous flowers are produces in a cluster at the base of the leaf. In the typical form the dorsal sepal is glabrous, elliptical ovate, obtusethree veined and between .16 to .32" [4 to 8 mm] long. The synsepal is usuallya little broader and nearly the sam length. The petals are more or less oblong and minutely denticulate. The lip is ovate, obtuse , minutely to microscopically cellular-gladular to denticulate and with a small glenion. It is color variable. P monocardia and P cardiophylla belong here. Prhopalocarpa trated here as a subspecies of P cordata is distinguished by the dorsal sepal that is obovate, obtuse or rounded at the apex, occasionally incompletely 5 veined and distinctly longer than the synsepal. It commonly lies flat against the leaf. The petals are oblong-triangular and acute." Luer 2005
Synonyms Acronia cordata (Ruiz & Pav.) Luer 2005; Acronia cordata subsp. rhopalocarpa (Schltr.) Luer 2005; *Humboltia cordata Ruiz & Pav. 1798; Humboldtia monocardia (Rchb.f.) Kuntze 1891; Humboltia monocardia (Rchb. f.) Kuntze 1891; Pleurothallis cardiophylla Schltr. 1915; Pleurothallis cordifolia var. rhopalocarpa (Schltr.) T.Hashim. 1978; Pleurothallis monocardia Rchb. f. 1855; Pleurothallis rhopalocarpa Schltr. 1922; Stelis cordata (Ruiz & Pav.) Willd. 1805; Zosterophyllanthos monocardius ( Rchb.f. ) Szlach. & Margonska 2001; Zosterophyllanthos rhopalocarpus (Schltr.) Szlach. & Kulak 2006
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Syst. Veg. Fl. Peruv. Chil.: 234 Ruiz & Pavon 1798 as Humboldtia cordata;
Sp. Pl., ed. 4. 4: 140 Willd. 1805 AS Stelis cordata;
* Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 5 Lindley 1830; ;
Bonplandia Rchb.f 1855 as P monocardia;
Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten V Bolivia Schlechter 1922 as P rhopalocarpa;
AOS Bulletin Vol 30 No 5 1961 as P monocardia;
AOS Bulletin Vol 33 #8 1964 as P monocardia;
AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #9 1967 as P monocardia;
Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 2 1970 drawing good;
Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 2 1970 as P monocardia drawing ok;
Selbyana 3: 78 Luer 1976 as P coffeicola drawing fide;
Selbyana 3: 80 Luer 1976 drawing fide;
Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 6 Dunsterville & Garay 1976 not P cordifolia drawing fide;
Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 as P cordifolia drawing fide;
Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 220 Dodson 1980 drawing fide;
The Orchids of Surinam Werkhoven 1986 as P monocardia photo close;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986 as P cardiophylla;
Icones Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986 as P monocardia;
Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 as P cordifolia not! photo fide;
Orquídea (Méx.) 13(1-2): 301-308.1993 as P monocardia fide;
Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide;
Orchids of Bolivia Vol 1 Pleurothallidinae Vasquez & Ibisch 2000 photo/drawing fide;
Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo fide;
Macchu Picchu Orchids Eric Christenson 2003 photo fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVII Systematics of Dryadella Systematics of Macrophyllae-Fasciculatae Luer 2005as Acronia cordata;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVII Systematics of Dryadella Systematics of Macrophyllae-Fasciculatae Luer 2005as Acronia cordata drawings fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVII Systematics of Dryadella Systematics of Macrophyllae-Fasciculatae Luer 2005as Acronia cordata drawings fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVIII A Reconsideration of Masdevallia Systematics of Specklinia Luer 2006 as Acronia cordata;
Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko & Bermudez 2009 pg 285 photo fide;
Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko & Bermudez 2009 pg 289 photo = P sp;
Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko & Bermudez 2009 as P cardiophylax = P cordata Ssp rhopalocarpa pg 289 photo fide;
Orquideas de Roirama Luz & Franco 2012 photo ok;
Orquideas del Valle de Aburra Medellin Colombia Orqidelogia 2014 photo;
Orchids of Tropical America Meisel 2014 photo fide;
Orquideas de Farallones de Cali Galindo-Tarazona, Haelterman, Zuluaga Trochez and Sebastian Moreno 2020 photo fide
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