Pleurothallis imitator [Toscano, Luer & L.Kollmann] in ed. SUBGENUS Acianthera [Scheidw.] Luer 1986

TYPE Drawing of Acianthera imitator by © Carl Luer and Harvard Papers in Botany , Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 39–68 2015,© NEW SPECIES AND NOMENCLATURAL NOTES IN THEPLEUROTHALLIDINAE (ORCHIDACEAE) FROM BRAZIL Luer & Toscano 2015

Common Name The Imitator Pleurothallis [refers to the referring to its similarity to Barbosa Rodrigues’s Pleurothallis bidentula]

Flower Size .4" [1 cm]

Found in Espirito Santo state of Brazil in submontane forest without elevational data as a very mini-miniature sized, repent epiphyte with .6 to .8" [15 to 20 mm] between each ascending to erect ramicaul enveloped by a loose, tubular sheath below the middle and another at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, suberect to horizontal, thickly coriaceous, elliptical to ovate, obtuse to subacute at the apex, rounded below into the sessile base leaf that blooms in the early winter on a a peduncle .12 to .16" [3 to 4 mm] long, borne from the base of the leaf through a single- flowered inflorescence with a shorter than the pedicel floral bract

This new species belongs to a complex of long-repent, similar taxa recently referred to as the P saundersiana complex(Toscano de Brito and Luer, 2015). It resembles in habit Pleurothallis bidentula, but it is distinguished by a markedly verrucose lip that is narrowly rounded at the tip, instead of broadly rounded or truncate. The creeping rhizome is delicate and the leaves are elliptical to slightly ovate. The flowers are relatively smaller and more delicate than those of Pleurothallis bidentula. In shape and color, the lip of P. imitator resembles that of P saundersiana, but the latter species is a much larger one with longer ramicauls and larger flowers. The reader should refer to Toscano de Brito and Luer (2015) for further discussion on the identities of some species in this complex, especially that of P. bidentula and P. saundersian." Toscano 2015

Synonyms *Acianthera imitator Toscano, Luer & L.Kollmann 2015

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

Harvard Papers in Botany , Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 39–68 2015,© NEW SPECIES AND NOMENCLATURAL NOTES IN THEPLEUROTHALLIDINAE (ORCHIDACEAE) FROM BRAZIL Luer & Toscano 2015 as Acianthera imitator Drawing fide

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