Pleurothallis malachantha Rchb.f 1855 SUBGENUS Arthrosia Luer 1986
Photo by Roberto Martins and hisFlickr Orchid Photo Website
Photo by Luiz Menini Neto and The Subtribe Pleurothallidinae [Orchidaceae] from the Parque Estadaual de Ibitipoca, Minas Gerais Brazil
Drawing by Pabst
Drawing by Helmut Seehawer
EARLY 
Common Name The Delicate Flowered Pleurothallis
Flower Size .12" [3 mm]
Found in Parana' and Rio de Janiero states of Brazil in primary forests at elevations around 1300 meters as a miniature to small sized, warm to cool growing, caespitose epiphyte occuring near the base of the trees with slender erect ramicauls enveloped by 3 short lived, brown spotted sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous lanceolate, narrow, stiff leaf that blooms in the early summer on a few, arising through a wine red splashed spathe, erect, to 3.2" [8 cm] long, 4 to 7 flowered inflorescence.
Synonyms Acianthera malachantha (Rchb.f.) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001; Arthrosia malachantha (Rchb.f.) Luer 2006; Humboldtia malachantha (Rchb.f.) Kuntze 1891; Specklinia malachantha (Rchb.f.) Luer 2004
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Bonplandia (Hannover) 3: 223 Rchb.f 1855;
Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 667 Kuntze 1891 as Humboltia malachantha;
Flora Brasiliensis Vol III Part 4:412 Martius, Cogniaux 1896
Flora Brasiliensis Vol III Part 4:tab 90 Martius, Cogniaux 1896
Orchidaceae Brasilensis Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 drawing ok;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4:244 Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001 as Acianthera malachantha;
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 Specklinia malachantha;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVIII A Reconsideration of Masdevallia Systematics of Specklinia Luer 2006 as Arthrosia malachantha;
The Organ Mountain Range Its History and Its Orchids Miller, Warren, Miller and Seehawer 2008 drawing fide
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