Pleurothallis neopileata (Karremans & Bogarín) in ed. SUBGENUS Dracontia SECTION Dracontia Luer 1986
TYPE Drawing by © Diego Bogarin/Comparison Photo by © Adam Karremans and Systematic Botany, 38(2): pp. 307–315 Three New Species of Dracontia (Pleurothallidinae, Orchidaceae) from Costa Rica Adam P. Karremans and Diego Bogarin 2013
Common Name The New Hat Pleurothallis [an allusion to the hat-like flattening of the short-acuminate dorsal sepal]
Flower Size .2" [5 mm] wide
Found in San Jose and Puntarenas provinces of Costa Rica in wet montane forests of the Pacific watershed of the Cordillera de Talamanca at elevations of 1600 to 1850 meters as a just small sized, cool growing, caespitose epiphyte with terete ramicals enveloped alomost compltetly by a thin, tubular sheath with 2 much shorter ones at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptic, sessile, obtuse, apex emarginate and apiculate, gradually narrowing below into the base leaf that blooms in the spring summer and fall on an erect, arising through a long triangular spathe, producing several inflorescences over time.peduncle 4.4" [11 cm] long, rachis 5.6" [14 cm] long, but getting longer with time, successively 1 to 3, to 10 flowered inflorescence with short, acute, , less than half as long as the pedicel floral bracts.,
"Dracontia pileata belongs to a group of closely related species that have elliptical, obtuse, subpetiolate leaves, an inconspicuous spathe, and an elongated, loose raceme of long-pedicellate, medium-sized flowers. P conochila is closely related; however the new species can be recognized by its larger flowers (dorsal sepal .52" to .56" [13 to 14 mm] long and .24" [6 mm] wide vs. .32" [8 mm] long and .145" [3.75 mm] wide; lip .28 to .32" [7 to 8 mm] vs. .18" [4.5 mm] long), the sepals hirsute at the apex (vs. glabrous), the ligulate-elliptic (vs. cone-shaped) lip, with the basal lobes being less than one fifth of the lip length (vs. one third). The type specimen of P conochila was collected at around 700 meters in elevation on the Caribbean watershed of the Talamanca cordillera, but D. pileata is from around 1,700 to 1,800 meters on the Pacific watershed of that cordillera. P thymochila has a similar habit; however, it has glabrous sepals with incurved margins and a broad elliptic, concave lip. P viridi-flava [Karremans & Bogarin] in ed, has greenishyellow flowers, it has a evenly ascending dorsal sepal, not “hat-like” and the lip is deeply erose-verrucose. P hydra [Karremans & C.M.Sm.] in ed. is also similar but has longer acuminate sepals, and the lip is twisted straight downwards (instead of being sigmoid)."Karremans & Bogarin 2013
Synonyms *Dracontia pileata Karremans & Bogarín 2013; Stelis pileata (Karremans & Bogarín) Karremans & Bogarín 2015
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Systematic Botany, 38(2): pp. 307–315 Three New Species of Dracontia (Pleurothallidinae, Orchidaceae) from Costa Rica Adam P. Karremans and Diego Bogarin 2013 as Dracontia pileata drawing/photo fide;
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