Restrepia purpurea Luer & R. Escobar 1996 Restrepia SUBGENUS Restrepia SECTION Restrepia
Photos by © Milan Vágner
TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer
Common Name The Purple Restrepia
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found in Nariño department of southern Colombia in cloud forests at elevations around 1650 meters as a miniature to small sized, cool growing epiphyte with erect ramicauls enveloped by 5 to 7 whitish, loose, compressed, somewhat imbricate sheaths with the lower being black spotted and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, purple suffused, ovate, obtuse, broadly to cuneate base contracted into hte twisted petiolate base leaf that blooms in the spring on a slender, arising on the back of the leaf and held in a fascile, 1.2 to 1.6" [3 to 4 cm] long, successively single floewred inflorescence with a thin, tubular , shorter than the pedicel floral bract.
"Easily identified from the very similar Restrepia brachypus by the smaller, stouter habit with broadly ovate, obtuse, dark purple leaves. The peduncles are about half as long as the leaf while those of R brachypus are often as long or longer than the leaf. The flowers of R purpurea are smaller than the aaverage R brachypus and the synsepal is white instead of yellow and prominently striped with much broader bright purple stripes. The lip is oblong, broader that that of the usual R purpurea and barely narrowled near the middle instead of pamdurate. The blades of both species are denticulate-fimbriate." Luer 1996
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; * Orquideología 20: 162 Luer & Escobar 1996 Drawing/photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol VIII Systematics of Restrepia Luer 1996 drawing/photo fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 6 COS 1998 photo fide; Australian Orchid Review Vol 66 No 5 2001 photo; Libro Rojo de Plantas De Colombia Vol 6 Primera Parte Saenz 2007
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