Pleurothallis sclerophylla Lindl. 1835-6 SUBGENUS Specklinia SECTION Acuminatae Luer 1986
Photo by © Alexander Moran
photo by © Jay Pfahl
photo by Patricia Harding
Photo by Carlos Hajek and his Peruvian Orchid Page
Drawing by Carl Luer
to 
Common Name The Dry Leathery Leaf Pleurothallis
Flower Size 1/2" [1.2 cm]
Found from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru as well as Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Surinam and Brazil in wet montane forests and cloud forests at altitudes of 480 to 3100 meters as a miniature to small sized, cold to warm growing, caespitose epiphyte that is with erect ramicauls carrying a single, apical, elliptic-oblong or oblanceolate, obtuse, petiolate leaf that blooms in the spring, summer and fall on an apical, subtended by a spathe and arising through an annulus below the apex of the ramicaul, racemose, to 12" [30 cm] long, longer than the leaves, several to many flowered inflorescence with a shorter to longer than the ovary floral bract and carrying the flowers held well above the leaf and having simultaneously opening, fragrant flowers.
"Characterized by the well developed ramicaul and an obtuse, elliptical, petiolate base leaf far surpassed by a multiflowered raceme of whitish, medium sized flowered witht the three, free slender, long-attenuate and widely spreading sepals. They vary in length and width and in degree of pubescence. The petals are small and obtuse with the midvein carinate and pueple externally. The lip varies cosiderably but intermural lamellae are always present below the middle with a prominent central carina. The apex of the columnis elongated, approaching the long beaked column of P rubens." Luer 1999
Synonyms Anathallis sclerophylla (Lindl.) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001; Anathallis secunda Barb. Rodr. 1882; Humboldtia sclerophylla (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Humboldtia stenopetala (Lodder ex Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Humboltia sclerophylla (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Humboltia stenopetala (Lodder ex Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Pleurothallis listrostachys Rchb. f. 1855; Pleurothallis ottonis Schltr 1929; Pleurothallis peregrina Ames 1923; Pleurothallis poasensis Ames 1922; Pleurothallis stenopetala Lodd. ex Lindl. 1838; Pleurothallis triura Schltr. 1916; Pleurothallis urosepala Lehm. & Kraenzl. 1899; Specklinia sclerophylla (Lindl.) Luer, Monogr 2004; Stelis sclerophylla (Lindl.) Karremans 2014; Zosterophyllanthos stenopetalus (G.Lodd. ex Lindl.) Szlach. & Marg. 2001
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Edwards's Bot. Reg. 21, sub. t. 1797 no. 31 Lindley 1835
Edwards's Bot. Reg. 24(Misc.): 95 Lodd ex Lindl. 1838 as P stenopetala;
Bonplandia (Hannover) 3: 71 Rchb.f 1855 as P listrostachys;
Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1878 as P stenopetala;
Gen. Spec. Orchid. 2: 72 Barb Rodr. 1881 as Anathallis secunda;
Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 668 Kuntze 1891 as Humboltia sclerophylla;
Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 668 Kuntze 1891 as Humboltia stenopetala;
Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 26: 442 F Lehm & Kraenzl. 1899 as P urosepala;
Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as P stenopetala;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 14: 386 Schlechter 1916 as P triura; Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 27: 52 Sclechter 1929 as P ottonis; AOS Bulletin Vol 30 No 5 1961 as P stenopetala; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1961 drawing fide; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 photo ok; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 2 1970 drawing fide; Fieldiana Biology, Vol 33, 1st Supple. to the Orchids of Peru Schweinfurth 1970; Selbyana 1: 284 Luer 1975 drawing fide; Orchidaceae Brasilensis Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 50 No 10 1981 photo/drawing fide; Orquideologia Vol 16 No 1 1983; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; Orchids of the High Mountain Atlantic Rainforest in SE Brazil Warren & Miller 1994 drawing/photo ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 65 No 7 1996;
Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Orchids of Bolivia Vasquez & Ibisch Vol 1 2000 photo/drawing fide; Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4:250 Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001 as Anathallis sclerophylla; Polish Bot. J. 46: 121 Szach & Marg. 2001 as Zpsterophyllanthos stenopetalus; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 9 2003 photo good; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 4 Dodson 2003 photo fide; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo ok; Macchu Picchu Orchids Eric Christenson 2003; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003 drawing ok; 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 Specklinia sclerophylla; Orquideas Da Chapada Diamantina Brito & Cribb 2005 drawing fide/photo good; The Organ Mountain Range Its History and Its Orchids Miller, Warren, Miller and Seehawer 2008 drawing fide; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide as Anathallis sclerophylla; Orchidees du Bresil As Orquideas da Serra do Castello Vol 2 Chiron & Bolsanello 2013 as Anathallis sclerophylla drawing/photo fide; Orquideas del Valle de Aburra Medellin Colombia Orqidelogia 2014 photo fide; LANKESTERIANA 13(3): 319—332 Kerremans 2014 as Stelis sclerophylla; Rodriguésia 70: e02722017 Anathallis (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae) no estado do Paraná, Brasil Santos, Toscano and Smidt 2019 as Anathallis sclerophylla drawing/photo fide
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