Pleurothallis ichthyonekys Luer 1977 SUBGENUS Specklinia SECTION Muscariae Luer 1986

TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer and The Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Jany Renz Herbaria Website

Common Name The Fish Carcass Pleurothallis [an allusion to the shape of the petals]

Flower Size .12" [3 mm]

Found in Zamora-Chinchipe province of Ecuador in dwarf forests at elevations around 2600 to 2800 meters as a mini-miniature sized, cold growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect, slender ramicauls with 2 thin, tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, narrowly obovate, obtuse, narrowly cuneate below into the indistinct petiolate base leaf that blooms in the summer on a horizontal, arising laterally from the ramicaul, more or less creeping, to 5.6" [to 14 cm] long including the .8 to 1.2" [2 to 3 cm] long peduncle, successively few flowered inflorescence with less than half as long as the pedicel floral bracts.

"This little species forms large clumps of tightly packed spatulate leaves which cling to the mossy branches of stunted host trees. The hair-like racemes creep through the moss and bear their deep purple flowers in slow succession a short distance from the plant. The sepals and petals are caudate, and the petals are ornamented with extremely fine, long cilia. The red lip is relatively large with a broad, rounded anterior lobe and long, narrow basal lobes. The ciliate petals and three-lobed lip indicate a relationship to Pleurothallis cestrochila Garay, found nearby at lower elevations, which may be distinguished by the black lip with short, scabrous basal lobes." Luer 1977

Synonyms Andreettaea ichthyonekys (Luer) A.Doucette First published in Internet Orchid Sp. Photo Encycl. Nomencl. Notes 8(1):5 2022 ; Muscarella ichthyonekys (Luer) Luer 2006; Specklinia ichthyonekys (Luer) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

* Selbyana 3(3–4): 316 (–318), f. 259. Luer 1977 drawing fide;

Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;

Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4:258 Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001 as Specklinia ichthyonkeys;

Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 4 Dodson 2003 drawing fide;

Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVIII A Reconsideration of Masdevallia Systematics of Specklinia Luer 2006 as Muscarella ichthyonekys

Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVIII A Reconsideration of Masdevallia Systematics of Specklinia Luer 2006 as Muscarella ichthyonekys drawing fide;

Internet Orchid Sp. Photo Encycl. Nomencl. Notes 8(1):5 Doucette 2022 as Andreettaea ichthyonekys

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