Pleurothallis heteropetala Luer 1976 SUBGENUS Acianthera [Scheidw.] Luer 1986
TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer and The Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Jany Renz Herbaria Website
LATE 
EARLY
Common Name The Different Petal Pleurothallis [refers to the unequal halves of the petals]
Flower Size .2" [5 mm]
Found in Pastaza province of Ecuador along rivers at elevations around 1200 meters as a mini-miniature sized, warm to cool growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect, slender, terete ramicauls with a loose tubular sheath below the middle and 2 to 3 others at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, purple suffused, ovate, acute, rounded below into the sessile base leaf that blooms in the late summer and early fall on a congested, arising through a spathe at the base of the leaf, .2 to .4" [.5 to 1 cm] long peduncle, simultaneously 2 to 3 flowered inflorescence with a tubular, shorter than the ovary floral bract.
"Characterized by the acute, ovate leaf, a somewhat shorter ramicaul and a short 2 to 3 flowered raceme. The flowers are more distinctive with the unequal sides of the unguiculate petals.The labellar half and margin is smooth while the opposite half is slightly dilated and verrucose with the margin denticulate." Luer 2004
Synonyms Acianthera heteropetala (Luer) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase2001
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Selbyana 3: 118 Luer 1976 drawing fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4 Pridgeon and Chase 2001 as Acianthera heteropetala;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------