Pleurothallis croatii Luer 1998 SUBGENUS Crocodeilanthe [Rchb.f & Warsc.]Luer 1986
TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer and The Epidendra Orchid Website.
Common Name Croat's Pleurothallis [American discoverer of species current]
Flower Size .2" [5 mm]
Found in Panama at elevations of 2200 to 2200 meters as a miniature sized, cold growing epiphyte with erect, fasciculate, laterally compressed ramicauls enveloped by a close, tubular sheath near the middle and 2 to 3 basal sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptical, acute, cuneate below into the decurrent base leaf that blooms in the fall on a 1 to several, subtended by a slender spathe, simultaneous, dense, secund to distichous, 4.8 to 8" [12 to 20 cm] long, many flowered inflorescence with a infundibular, as long to longer than the ovary floral bract.
"Unique in the subgenus by the bases of the leaves decurrent to the stout, compressed ramicauls that are fasciculate with common, loose, tubular sheaths. The elongate racemes are subtended by a small spathe. The sepals are remarkable with tall, more or less irregular carinae along the midvein below the middle. The petals are obtuse and 3 veined. The triangular-trilobed lip with the lateral lobes erect and broadly rounded below the middle and a small pair of calli is similar to P moritzii. The column is terete, a little longer than ususal in the subgenus." Luer 1998
Synonyms Crocodeilanthe croatii (Luer) Luer 2004; Stelis croatii (Luer) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001; Stelis decurrens Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2002;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XVI Systematics of Pleurothallis SUBGEN Crocodeilanthe, Rhynchopera and Talpinaria Luer 1998 drawing fide;
Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4:262 Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001 as Stelis croatii
Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4:262 Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001 as Stelis decurrens
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVI Pleurothallis subgenus Acianthera and Three Allied subgenera, A Second Century of new Species of Stelis of Ecuador, Epibator, Ophidion and Zootrophion Luer 2004 as Crocodeilanthe croatii
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