Pleurothallis tarantula Luer & Hirtz 1996 SUBGENUS Effusae Luer 2000
Photo by Sebastian Vieira-Uribe;
Photo courtesy of Eric Hunt, plant grown by Hanging Gardens
TYPE Drawing by Luer
Common Name The Spider-Like Flowered Pleurothallis
Flower Size .4" [1 cm]
Found in Antioquia department of Colombia and Morona-Santiago province of Ecuador in cloud forests at elevations of 1500 to 1900 meters as a medium sized, cool growing, caespitose epiphyte, the plant is 12 to 18" [30 to 45 cm] tall, with stout to slender, erect ramicauls enveloped by a tubular sheath above the middle and 2 others at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptical, subacute to obtuse, cuneate below into the illdefined petiolate base leaf that blooms in the spring on an erect, arising behind the leaf through a spathe at the apex of the ramicaul, strict, congested, 3.2" [8 cm] long, more or less simultaneously several flowered inflorescence with an oblique acute, longer to somewhat shorter than the pedicel floral bract.
"Similar to P imraei but differs in the larger plant, larger leaf, larger flowers that are very dark purple, hairy [vs deep yellow hairy] and when veiwed in situ in a shaded area by lifting the leaf to look underneath and bam there's a bunch of spiders, spider-like flowers though.
Synonyms Effusiella tarantula Luer 2007; Specklinia tarantula (Luer & Hirtz) Luer 2004; Stelis tarantula (Luer & Hirtz) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Lindleyana 11: 186 Luer & Hirtz 1996 drawing fide;
Native Colombian Orchids Vol 3 COS 1991 photo fide;
Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4:267 Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001 as Stelis tarantula;
Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 4 Dodson 2003 photo fide;
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 tarantula;
Orchid Digest Vol 71 No 3 2007 photo fide;
Icones Pleurothallidianrum Vol XXIX A Third Century of Stelis of Ecuador Systematics of Apoda-Prorepentia Luer 2007as Effusiella tarantula;
AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #11 2016 photo fide; ;
LANKESTERIANA 23(2). Karremans, Moreno, Gil-Amaya, Morales, Espinosa, Mesa, Restrepo, Rincon-Gonzales, Serna, Sierra-Ariza and Vieira-Uribe 2023 as Stelis tarantula photo fide;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
