Stelis cavatella Luer & R.Vásquez 2018 SECTION Humboldtia

TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer and Selbyana 32(1,2): 29 Luer & Vasquez 2018

Common Name The Hollowed Out Stelis [refers to the cavity of the lip]

Flower Size .2" [5 mm]

Found in La Paz department of Bolivia at elevations around 2100 to 2550 meters as a miniature to small sized, cold growing, prolific, caespitose epiphyte with erect, stout ramicauls enveloped by a tubular sheath below the middle and another at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous elliptical, acute, cuneate below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the spring on an erect, strict, distichous, , arising through a slender spathe at a node below the apex of the ramicaul, congested, peduncle 1.2 to 1.6" [3 to 4 cm] long, rachis 5.6 to 6" [14 to 15 cm] long, subcongested, simultaneously many, many flowered inflorescence with tubular, close as long as the pedicel floral bracts.

"This large species is characterized by proliferating ramicauls with elliptical leaves, fleshy flowers with a five-veined dorsal sepal and borne in a long raceme, and thick, five-veined petals. The lip is deeply hollowed out anteriorly with the margins thin around the rounded apex. The transverse bar is thin and cleft as it forms a roof over a deep cavity. " Luer & Vasquez 2018

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

* Selbyana 32(1,2): 29 Luer & Vasquez 2018

Selbyana 32(1,2): 133 Luer & Vasquez 2018 Drawing fide

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