Pleurothallis nelsonii Ames 1923 SUBGENUS Acianthera
Photo by © Solano Gomez
TYPE Drawing by © Ames
Common Name Nelson's Pleurothallis [American Collector of the type 1900's]
Flower Size .36" [9 mm]
Found in Guerreo and Chiapas states of Mexico and Guatemala in very wet montain rainforests at elevations of 1300 to 2100 meters as a small sized, cool to cold growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect, slender, basally terete, apically flattened, 3 internoded, ramicauls with 3 tubular, obtuse, scarious, carinate sheaths in the basal 2/3's and carrying a single, apical, erect to horizontal, oblong-lanceolate, acute-acuminate apcially, slightly carinate beneath, rigid, coriaceous-fleshy, , upper side lustrous, rounded-cordate below into the conduplicate, sessile base leaf that blooms at most any time of the year on 1 to 2 fasciles at the apex of the ramicaul, on the top of the leaf, arising through a basal, triangular, conduplicate spathe peduncle to .8" [2 cm] long, filiform, successively single, 2 to 3 flowered inflorescence with an infundibular-cucullate, mucronate, membraneous, much shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying cupped flowers.
Part of the P crocodiliceps group which consists of P arietina, P microchila, P andreae, P manningiana, P weilii and P kelsoae
Often and erroneously cited as a synonym of P crocodiliceps along with P arietina and P microchila, see Lankesteriana Wilson 2017 for the explanation of why they are separate.
Synonyms Ancipitia nelsonii (Ames) Archila & Szlach. 2018
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Lankester's Epidendra Website CR;
* Schedul. Orch. 4: 22-23. Ames 1923 TYPE Drawing fide;
Icones Pleurothalllidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
Icones Orchidacearum 5 - 6 Orchids of Mexico Part 2 - 3 Plate 640 Hagsater & Soto 2002 as P nelsonii drawing fide;
LANKESTERIANA 17(2) Wilson etal 2017;
Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 as Ancipitia nelsonii photo fide
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