Pleurothallis osculator [Luer & Toscano] in ed. SUBGENUS Pleurothallis SECTION Pleurothallis SUBSECTION Macrophyllae-Racemosae [Lindl] Luer 1986

TYPE Drawing of Pabstiella osculator by Carl Luer

EARLY

Common Name The Kissing Pleurothallis [refers to the adhering calli of the petals]

Flower Size .2" [5 mm]

Found in Espirito Santo state of Brazil at elevations of 500 to 1000 meters as a mini-miniature sized, warm growing, caespitose epiphyte with s slender, erect, thickened toward the leaf ramicaul enveloped by 2 to 3 tubular sheaths at the base and carrying a single, erect, thickly coriaceous, narrowly elliptical, obtuse, semiterete at the base leafg that is narrowed below to the abscission layer at the apex of the ramicaul and blooms in the early summer on an erect, arising through a spathe, peduncle .8" [2 cm] long, to 1.6' [4 cm] long overall, loose, successively single, few-flowered inflorescence with shorter than the pedicel floral bracts.

"This unique, Brazilian species from Espírito Santo is distinguished by narrow, fleshy leaves and a loose, successively flowered raceme, barely as long as the leaf, of long-pedicellate, non-expanding flowers. The inner surface of the petals toward the apex is callous-thickened and minutely verrucose excluding the margins. These rough surfaces adhere anterior to the tip of the column. The only other species with petals that adhere anterior to the column is the Colombian Pleurothallis hemisphaerica Luer & R.Escobar. The lip is oblong with broadly rounded sides and a verrucose apex" Luer & Toscano 2011

Synonyms *Pabstiella osculator Luer & Toscano 2011

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

Harv. Pap. Bot. 16(2): 377. Luer & Toscano 2011 as Pabstiella osculator drawing fide;

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