Pleurothallis rubella Luer 1977 SUBGENUS Rubella Luer 1986 TYPE for the SUBGENUS
Photos by © Christian
Photo by © Arturo Carillo
Photo by © Weil Driessen
TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer
Common Name The Little Reddish Pleurothallis
Flower Size .15" [3mm]
Found in Costa Rica, Chiriqui province of Panama, Quindio department of Colombia and Pastaza province of Ecuador at elevations of 1100 to 1400 meters as a miniature sized, cool growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 tubular sheaths and carrying a single apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptic, obtuse, gradually narrowing below into the elongate, petiolate base leaf that blooms in the fall on an erect, arising from a node on the ramicaul, slender, fractiflex, peduncle capillary, 2.24" [5.6 cm] long, slowly successively single, few flowered inflorescence with much shorter than the pedicel floral bracts.
"Characterized by the little, red to yellow flowres that are produced single in a slow succession. The narrowed apices of the petals are studded with prominant, maroon cells as is also the surface of the ciliate lip. The base of the lip is broadly and tightly adherent to the column foot and immendaitely in front there is a rounded concavity linesw by short, red hairs." Luer 1977
In Costa Rica and Panama the flower is reddish brown with red purple stripes on the sepals and on the single vein of the petal and has a reddish lip heavily suffused with purple. In Colombia the flower is golden yellow with red stripes and in Ecuador it has yellow orange sepals with a red-purple lip.
This species is the only representative of the Subgenus Rubella because of the ciliate lip with a large rounded, concave, pubescent callus at the base, with a short, terete column with an exposed apical anther and stigma as in Subgenus Pleurothallis but it has the plant morphology of a plant in Subgenus Specklinia.
Synonyms Platystele aurea Garay 1973; Rubellia aurea (Garay) Baumbach 2011; Rubellia rubella (Luer) Luer 2004
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Orquideologia 8: 182 Garay 1973 as Platystele aurea;
* Selbyana 3(3-4): 378-379, f. 289. Luer 1977 drawing fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986 drawing fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVIII A Reconsideration of Masdevallia Systematic of Apoda-Prorepentia Luer 2006 as Rubellia rublella; Orchidee (Hamburg) 62: 231 Baumbach 2011 as Rubellia aurea;
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