Pleurothallis crateriformis C.Schweinf. 1951 SUBGENUS Pleurothallis SECTION Macrophyllae-Fasciculatae Lindl 1859
Photo by © Lynn O'Shaughnessy
TYPE Drawing by © Schweinfurth and The Epidendra Orchid Website
TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer
Common Name The Cratered Pleurothallis [refers to the concave lip]
Flower Size .4" [1 cm]
Found in Morona-Santiago, Azuay and Zamora-Chinchipe provinces of Ecuador and Junin department of Peru at elevations of 2000 to 2700 meters as a small sized, cold growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect, slender ramicauls enveloped by a close, tubular sheath below the middle and 2 to 3, densely short pubescent basal sheaths and carrying a single, apical, horizontal to spreading, thickly coriaceous, cordate-ovate, acute, deeply cordate into the sesille base leaf that blooms in the fall on a fascile, enveloped by a .32 to .44" [8 to 11 mm] long, reclining spathe, of successive, single flowered inflorescence with a shorter than the pedicel floral bract and carrying resupinate flowers.
Differs in the thickly coriaceous, deeply cordate leaves and s fleshy dark colored, gaping flower that sits upon the leaf. The sepals are verrucose within and the thick ovoid lip is deeply concave centrally with the margins flattened and cellular-gladular. The dorsal sepal is much broader than the lamina of the fused lateral sepals and the deeply concave or bowl-shaped lip. Similar to P tobarii and P muriculata in the pubescent or hispidous sheaths of the ramicauls which is a rare occurence within the section Macrophyllae-Fasciculatae.
Synonyms Acronia crateriformis (C.Schweinf.) Luer 2005, Zosterophyllanthos crateriformis (C.Schweinf.) Szlach. & Kulak 2006
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Bot. Mus. Leafl. 15: 88 C. Schweinf. 1951 Drawing fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVII Systematics of Dryadella Systematics of Macrophyllae-Fasciculatae Luer 2005 drawing fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 76 No 9 2007 as Acronia craterformis photo fide
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
