Pleurothallis aphthosa Lindl.1838 SUBGENUS Acianthera [Scheidw.] Luer 1986
Sebastian Viera Uribe
Drawing by Carl Luer
to and
Flower Size .2" [5 mm]
Found in Cauca and Risaralda departments of Colombia, El Oro province of Ecuador, Huanuco department of Peru, Santa Cruz and Tarija departemnts of Bolivia, Minas Gerais and Parana states of Brazil and Paraguay in wet montane forests and evergreen forests at altitudes of 250 to 1450 meters as a small sized, hot to cool growing, shortly repent epiphytic species from with a channeled ramicaul with 2, basal, tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, oblanceolate, shortly decurrent, obtusely bilobed or retuse, thickly coriaceous, gradually narrowing below into the channeled petiolate base leaf that blooms in the winter and spring on an apical, enveloped by 2 to 4, basal tubular bracts, short, few to many flowered, fasciculate inflorescence with thin infundibular, half as long as the pedicel floral bracts and holding the flowers at the leaf base and has a foul odor.
"Famous for its repulsive smelling flowers borne in a short, congested raceme arising from the folded base of a thick leaf. The speals are rigidly fleshy and cobble-stoned within. The dark purplish brown lip is thick with a pair of verrucose calli in the center." Luer 2004
Synonyms Acianthera aphthosa (Lindl.) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001; Pleurothallis ciliata var. abbreviata C.Schweinf. 1953; Pleurothallis macrophyta Barb. Rodr. 1877; Pleurothallis pelioxantha Barb. Rodr. 1877; Pleurothallis pleioxantha Barb. Rodr. 1877; Specklinia aphtosa (Lindl.) F. Barros 1984
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Edwards's Bot. Reg. 24(Misc.): 42–43 Lindl. 1838;
Gen. Sp. Orchid. 1: 17 Barb.Rodr 1877 as P macrophyta;
Gen. Sp. Orchid. 1: 17 Barb.Rodr 1877 as P pelioxantha;
Bot. Mus. Leafl. 16(3): 46–47 C.Schweinf. 1953 as P ciliata var abbreviata;
AOS Bulletin Vol 26 No 10 1957;
Orchidaceae Brasilensis Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 drawing fide;
Selbyana 3: 50 Luer 1976 drawing fide;
Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 212 Dodson 1980 drawing fide;
Hoehnea 10: 109 F Barros 1983 publ. 1984 as Specklinia aphthosa;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II plate 0276 Dodson & Vasquez 1989 drawing fide;
Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 156 Bennett & Christenson 1993 drawing fide;
Orchids of Bolivia Vol 1 Pleurothallidinae Vasquez & Ibisch 2000 drawing fide/photo fide;
Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4:242 Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001 as Acianthera apthosa;
Macchu Picchu Orchids Eric Christenson 2003;
100 Orquideas Argentinas Freuler 2005 photo fide;
The Organ Mountain Range Its History and Its Orchids Miller, Warren, Miller and Seehawer 2008 drawing good;
Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide as Acianthera apthosa;
A taxonomic synopsis of Acianthera (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae) in Peru, including two new species Damian, Chiron and Mitidieri 2018 as Acianthera aphthosa;
Pleurothallids Neotropical Jewels Vol 1 Karremans & Viera 2020 as Acianthera apthosa photo fide
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