Pleurothallis subtilis C.Schweinf. 1951 SUBGENUS Pleurothallis SECTION Macrophyllae-Fasciculatae Lindl. 1859
Photo by © Wiel Driessen
Photo by © Gerardo Torres and his Flickr Orchid Photo Website
Photo by © Alex Mora Mendez
Drawing by © Carl Luer
Common Name The Delicate Pleurothallis
Flower Size .2" [5 mm]
Found in Merida, Trujillo and Tachira states of western Venezuela and eastern Colombia in dense forests at elevations around 1300 to 2650 meters as a mini-miniature to small sized, cool to cold growing, caespitose epiphyte with a slender, erect ramicaul with a close, tubular sheath below the middle and 2 others at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, narrowly linear with revolute sides, acute, sessile and shortly cordate below leaf that blooms in the winter, spring and summer on a fascile, arising through a spathe, of successively single, few flowered inflorescence with an as long as to a bit longer than the pedicel floral bract.
P subtilis and P calamifolia are very similar vegetatively and differ only in the flowers with P calamifolia having thick petals, especially at the obtuse apex and the lip is proportionally larger, non-verrucose and concave at the end unlike P sutilis which has thin, acute petals and the lip is verrucose and not concave but sharply deflexed apically.
Synonyms Acronia subtilis (C.Schweinf.) Luer 2005; Zosterophyllanthos subtilis (C.Schweinf.) Szlach. & Marg. 2001
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Fieldiana, Bot. 28(1): 188 Schweinfurth 1951;
Fieldiana, Bot. 28(1): 188 Schweinfurth 1951; drawing fide
Flora de Venezuela Volumen 15 Parte 2 Foldats 1970 drawing fide;
Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 4 Dunsterville & Garay 1972 drawing fide;
Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fiide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986;
Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide;
Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVII Systematics of Dryadella Systematics of Macrophyllae-Fasciculatae Luer 2005 as Acronia subtilis
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVII Systematics of Dryadella Systematics of Macrophyllae-Fasciculatae Luer 2005 as Acronia subtilis drawing fide ;
Phytotaxa 308 (1): 080–088 Zambrano, Solano and Wilson 2017 photo fide
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