Pleurothallis pristis F.Lehm. & Kraenzl. 1899 SUBGENUS Crocodeilanthe [Rchb.f & Warsc.]Luer 1986
Photo by © M Rincon
Drawing by © Carl Luer and The Epidendra Website
Common Name The Sawfish Pleurothallis
Flower Size .2" [5 mm]
Found in Tolima, Cauca and Putumayo departments of Colombia and Ecuador at elevations around 2800 to 3300 meters as a small sized, a cold growing epiphyte with ascending, slender ramicauls enveloped by 2 loose, tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, narrowly elliptical, acute, narrowly cuneate below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the fall and earlier winter on an erect, subdense, distichous, 6 to 14" [15 to 35 cm] long including the 3.2 to 6" [8 to 15 cm] long peduncle, simultaneously several, many flowered inflorescence arising laterally from below the apex of the ramicaul with acute, acuminate floral bracts.
"This species is one of the few pleurothallids that can be recognized dead or alive. It is a large species with a scandent, prolific habit and acute, petiolate leaves. The distinctive, long, many-flowered racemes with two opposing rows of long, pointed, floral bracts reminded Kränzlin of a sawfish, hence Pleurothallis pristis F. Lehm. & Kraenzl. The unexpanded sepals are obtuse and connate below the middle. The petals are simple, 3-veined and broadly obovate. The lip is concave below a bilobed bar." Luer 2018
Luer in 2018 puts S dendrophila as a synonym of this species but Kew maintains their separate species status.
Synonyms Dialissa pulchella Lindl. 1845; Stelis dialissa Rchb.f. 1855
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
*Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 8: 453 Schlechter 1910;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Systematics of Pleurothallis Vol 3 Luer 1986 as Pleurothallis pristis;
Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 8 449 - 512 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1976 as Dialyssa pulchella;
Orchidaceae Stelis Swartz A Compendium Duque 2008 drawing fide;
Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXX Luer 2009 drawing fide;
Harvard Pap. Bot. 23: 146 Luer & Escobar 2018 as S dialissa drawing fide
LANKESTERIANA 23(2). Karremans, Moreno, Gil-Amaya, Morales, Espinosa, Mesa, Restrepo, Rincon-Gonzales, Serna, Sierra-Ariza and Vieira-Uribe 2023 as Stelis dialisa photo fide;
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