Pleurothallis obscura A. Rich. & Galeotti 1845 SUBGENUS Acianthera [Scheidw.] Luer 1986
Photos by Jay Pfahl.
Drawing by Carl Luer
Common Name The Small Flowered Pleurothallis
Flower Size .08" [2 mm]
Found on the eastern declivity of the central highlands of Mexico and Guatemala at elevations around 1200 to 1800 meters as a mini-miniature to miniature sized, cool growing, shortly repent to caespitose epiphyte with terete ramicauls with 2 to 3 tubular sheaths below, shallowly channeled above, 2.4 to 4" [6 to 10 cm] long, carrying a single, apical, thickened, very narrowly ovate to linear, acute tridenticulate apically, sessile leaf that blooms in the winter on a fascicle, arising througha spathe from the axil of the leaf, of a few (2-3), peduncles stout about .2" [5 mm] long, 2 to 3 flowered inflorescence with a infoundibular, as long as the pedicel floral bract, ovary minutely verrucose.
"Characterized by a rather stout, channeled stem and a thick but narrow, rigid, sulcate leaf about the same length. A small cluster of orange flowers borne on a few abbreviated racemes appears at the base of the leaf. As in some other species, the flowers appear superficially to be in a single flower fascicle. With time the very small fleshy warty flowers turn cinnabar-red. The lateral sepals are united into a semiorbicular retuse lamina, the margins of which evert to expose the thickened lip, while the dorsal sepal reflexes above. The sides of the labellum below the middle are erect, and centrally there are a pair of rounded lamellae. Flowers small, bilabiate, fleshy, orange, externally sparsely verrucose; dorsal sepal elliptical, obtuse, convex above the middle, concave below the middle, .13 x .043" [3.25 x 1.75 mm]; lateral sepals connate into a suborbicular, concave lamina, obtuse, retuse, 3x3.5mm, bicarinate externally; petals elliptical, upper margin angled, acute, serrulate, yellow with 3 orange veins; lip ovate, fleshy dilated below the middle with the margins turned up." Jorge Melendez
Synonyms Acianthera obscura (A.Rich. & Galeotti) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001; Humboldtia bilamellata (Rchb.f.) Kuntze 1891; Pleurothallis bilamellata Rchb.f. 1850; Pleurothallis rufa Rolfe 1898
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 3, 3: 17 A.Rich. & Galeotti 1845;
Refugium Botanicum Reichenbach 1869 as Pleurothallis bilamellata drawing fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 5 1979;
Orquídea (Mexico City), n.s., 7[3]: 1979;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
An Introdution to the Orchids of Mexico Wiard 1987 photo fide;
Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4:245 Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001 as Acianthera obscura;
Orchids of Mexico Hagsater, Soto, Salazar, Jimenez Lopez & Dressler 2005 as Acianthera obscura;
Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 as Acianthera obscura photo fide;
Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 as Acianthera obscura;
Pleurothallids Neotropical Jewels Vol 1 Karremans & Viera 2020 as Acianthera obscura photo fide
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