Stelis caldaria Luer & Vasquez 2018 SECTION Stelis
Drawing by © Carl Luer and Selbyana 32(1,2): 24 Luer & Vasquez 2018
Common Name Britton's Stelis [Co founder of the New York Botanical Gardens 1859 - 1934]
Flower Size .24" [6 mm]
Found in Santa Cruz department of Bolivia at elevations of 290 to 650 meters as a miniature sized, hot to warm growing caespitose epiphyte with stout, erect ramicauls enveloped by a tubular sheath below the middle and 2 others at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, thickly coriaceous, elliptical, obtuse to rounded, cuneate below into the cuneate to subpetiolate base leaf that blooms at most any time of the year on 1 to 2 erect, arising through a spathe from a node below the apex of the ramicaul, congested, distichous, peduncle 1.2 to 2.8" [3 to 7 cm] long, rachis 2.8 to 6" [7 to 15 cm] long, simultaneously many flowered inflorescence with close, tubular, obtuse with shorter than the ovary floral bracts.
"Characterized by elliptical to oblong, subpetiolate leaves, and one or two long, simultaneously many-flowered racemes of small, purplish flowers. The sepals are expanded and shortly pubescent, the dorsal sepal usually three-veined, but occasionally accessory veins are present; the petals are three-veined; and the type A lip is similar to that of S. phaeomelana: shallowly concave below the bar with a glenion, and with a low, broad callus on the dorsum. The shapes of the sepals of Stelis caldaria also distinguish it. The dorsal sepal is larger than the lateral sepals, and the lateral sepals are oblique with outer margins curved and longer than the inner margins so that the tips point downward, instead of about 45° as in S. phaeomelana where lateral sepals are ovate with the margins are about equal in length. The angle between the lateral sepals of S. caldaria is acute, while the angle in S. phaeomelana is obtuse." Luer & Vasquez 2018
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Selbyana 32(1,2): 24 Luer & Vasquez 2018
Selbyana 32(1,2): 132 Luer & Vasquez 2018 Drawing fide
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