~Pleurothallis perennis Luer 1996 see - Pleurothallis dracontea Luer 1981 SUBGENUS Dracontia SECTION Dracontia Luer 1986
TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer and The Epidendra Orchid Website
Common Name The Everlasting Pleurothallis [refers to the inflorescence that seems to go on ad infinitum]
Flower Size .4" [1 cm]
Found in Alajuela province of Costa Rica without collection data as a mini-miniature sized, caespitose epiphyte with slender, erect ramicauls with 2 to 3, loose, tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptical, subacute, cuneate below into the sessile base leaf that blooms in the spring on an erect then arcuate to wandering, arising through slender spathe, slender, lateral, loose, flexible, strict, to 24" [60 cm] long, successively many flowered inflorescence with shorter than the pedicel floral bracts.
This species has been relegated to being a synonym of P dracontea by Karremans and Chris Smith-Martin 2012 see below
"The elongated, successively many flowered inflorescence that continues to produce a solitary flower for many months, perhaps as long as a year, is unique in the subgenus. Forty Three flowers have been produces on one of the arching racemes. The sessile leaf and subtending spathe are small for the section. The sepals are long-villous within, the petals are papillose externally and lamellate within and the lip is elongate and acute." Luer 1998
Synonyms Dracontia perennis (Luer) Luer 2004; Stelis perennis (Luer) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Lindleyana 11(2): 86, f. 22. Luer 1996 Drawing fide;
Lindleyana 16(4): 267 Pridgeon & M.W. Chase 2001 as Stelis perennis;
Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVI Pleurothallis subgenus Acianthera and Three Allied subgenera, A Second Century of new Species of Stelis of Ecuador, Epibator, Ophidion and Zootrophion Luer 2004 as Dracontia perennis;
Systematic Botany, 38(2): pp. 307–315 A Note on Genus Dracontia (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae), with a New Species Adam P. Karremans and Chris Smith-Martin 2012 as Dracontia perrinis as syn of P dracontea drawing/photo fide;
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