Pleurothallis stevensonii Luer 1975 SUBGENUS Pleurothallis SECTION Pleurothallis SUBSECTION Acroniae SERIES Amphygiae Luer 1998
Photo by J & L Orchids and their J & L Orchid Website
TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer
Common Name or Meaning Stevenson's Pleurothallis [American Discoverer of species later 1900's]
Flower Size .6" [1.5 cm]
Found in Pichincha province of Ecuador in shady, wet tropical montane forests at elevations around 1300 to 1650 meters as a miniature sized, cool growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect to suberect, very slender ramicauls enveloped basally by a basal, thin tubular sheath and another below the middle and carrying a single, apical, suberect to spreading, thinly coriaceous, rigid, ovate, acute, rounded and subcordate below into the sessile base leaf that blooms in the fall on an erect, arising through a spathe at the base of the leaf, a fascile of successive, long-pedunculate, peduncle 1" [2.5 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence with tubular, much shorter than the pedicel floral bract.
"It seems related to the Venezuelan Pleurothallis gracilipedunculata Foldats, but it is easily distinguished by its acuminate sepals, narrow glabrous petals, and an apiculate lip. Pleurothallis stevensonii is easily recognized by its dense clump of thread-like stems, each of which supports a small, oval, abruptly acuminate leaf. The central tooth at the apex is noticeably elongated. The erect, longpedicellate flowers are produced singly, a few at a time, from a fascicle of old pedicels at the base of the leaf. The gaping flowers are yellow-green and the fleshy narrow petals are delicately marked with rose. The lip is also fleshy with upturned, broadly rounded lateral lobes connected by a transverse carina, The small midlobe is long-apiculate." Luer 1975
Synonyms Acronia stevensonii (Luer) Luer 2005
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Selbyana 1: 296 Luer 1975 Drawing fide;
Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 263 Dodson 1980 drawing fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 4 Dodson 2003 Photo fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVII Systematics of Dryadella Systematics of Macrophyllae-Fasciculatae Luer 2005 as Acronia stevensonii
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