Stelis cupidinea Luer & R.Escobar 2017 SECTION Stelis

TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer and Harvard Pap. Bot. 22: 88 Luer 2017

Common Name The Cupid Stelis [pertaining to Cupid, something “dainty,” referring to the tiny habit.]

Flower Size .16" [3 mm]

Found in Cauca department of Colombia at higher elevations as a mini-miniature to miniature sized, cool to cold growing, caespitose epiphyte with slender, erect ramicauls enveloped by a tubular sheath below the middle and another at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptical, obtuse to rounded, cuneate below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the fall on a single, erect, arising from a node below the apex of the ramicaul, peduncle .48" [1.2 cm] long, erect, distichous, flexuous, rachis 8 to 14" [20 to 35 cm] long, many flowered inflorescence with oblique, acute, as long as the pedicel floral bracts and carrying purple flowers.

"This very small species from the southern Central Cordillera is characterized by an elliptical leaf that is exceeded by twice the length by minute, flexuous, manyflowered racemes. Unfortunately, only two good flowers remained on Amalia’s plant, so it is unknown if it is simultaneously or successively flowered. The sepals are minutely pubescent and three-veined; the petals are broadly rounded at the apex, shallowly concave, but sharply concave and three-veined below a thick transverse carina. The lip is flat below the bar, except for a rounded callus that begins at the base of the shallow dorsum, and extends forward over the bar onto the anterior surface." Luer 2017

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

* Harvard Pap. Bot. 22: 88 Luer 2017 Drawing fide

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