Prescottia oligantha [Sw.] Lindley 1840
Photo by © Luis Filipe Varella
Photos by © Eric Hunt
Photo by Dale and Deni Borders
to 
Common Name The Sparse-Blooming Prescotia
Flower Size 1/16" [1.6 mm]
Found in Florida, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Cayman, Leewards, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Windwards, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Galapagos, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina at elevations of 685 to 2400 meters in deep shade under trees in hammocks or forests as a miniature to medium sized, warm to cool growing, inconspicuous terrestrial with 2 to 3 ovate to suborbicular, acute, shortly petiolate base leaves that blooms on an erect, terminal, glabrous, purpley, slender, 16" [40 cm]] long, densely many flowered inflorescence with lanceolate, acuminate, concave, spreading floral bracts with up to 50 non-resupinate flowers occuring in February in Florida, March to May in Cuba.
Synonyms Cranichis micrantha Sprengel 1826; *Cranichis oligantha Sw. 1788; Prescotia filiformis Schlechter 1920; Prescotia gracilis Schlechter 1920; Prescottia micrantha (Spreng.) Lindl. 1836; Prescotia myosurus Rchb.f ex Griseb. 1864; Prescotia panamensis Schlechter 1920; Prescotia polysphaera Schlechter 1920; Prescotia tenuis Lindley 1840; Prescottia viacola Barb. Rodr. 1881; Prescotia viacola Barb Rodr var polyphylla Cogn. 1906; Serapias pumila Vellozo 1827;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909 as Cranichis tenuiflora; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; Flora of Jamaica Fawcett & Rendle 1910 drawing hmm; Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten II Colombia Schlechter 1920 as P filiformis; Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten II Colombia Schlechter 1920 as P gracilis; Flore Descriptive des Antilles Francaises H. Stehle 1939; Flora Brasilica Vol XII II Hoehne 1945 as P micrantha drawing ok; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946 drawing good; AOS Bulletin Vol 31 #8 1962 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 33 #8 1964 as Prescottia tenuis; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 4 Dunsterville & Garay 1966 drawing hmm; Flora de Venezuela Volumen XV Primera Parte Foldats 1969 drawing fide; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 1 1969 drawing hmm; Fieldiana Biology, Vol 33, 1st Supple. to the Orchids of Peru Schweinfurth 1970; The Ntiver Orchids of Florida Luer 1972 drawing fide; Flora of the Lesser Antilles Garay & Sweet 1974 drawing ok; Orchidaceae Brasilenses Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 drawing ok; Flora of Ecuador No 9 225[1] Garay 1978 drawing good; Orquídea (Mexico City), n.s., 7[3]: 1979; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing hmm; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 1262 Dodson 1985 drawing ok; An Orchid Flora of Peurto Rico and the Virgin Islands Ackerman 1995 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 557 Bennett & Christenson 1998 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing hmm; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003 drawing ok; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Orchidaceae Antillanae Nir 2000; Moscosoa 13:118 2002 ;The Orchids of Cuba Llamacho & Larramendi 2005 photo fide; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018; Orquideas de Farallones de Cali Galindo-Tarazona, Haelterman, Zuluaga Trochez and Sebastian Moreno 2020 photo fide; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 2 Lacaena to Pteroglossa Pupulin 2020 photo fide
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