Stelis esmeraldae Luer & Hirtz 2004 SECTION Stelis
Drawing by © Carl Luer
Common Name The Esmeraldas Stelis [refers to the where the species occurs]
Flower Size .14" [4 mm]
Found in Esmeraldas province of Ecuador at elevations around 300 to 750 meters as a mini-miniature sized, hot to warm growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect, slender ramicauls with a tubular sheath and 1 to 2 shorter ones at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, narrowly ellitpical, subacute to obtuse, tridenticulate, narrowly cuneate below into the indistinct petiolate base leaf that blooms in the summer on an erect, arising from below the apex of the ramicaul loose, flexuous, 1.2 to 2" [3 to 5 cm] long including the .6" [1.5 cm] long peduncle, mostly simultaneously several flowered inflorescence with oblique, acute, shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying purple flowers with the sepals duller.
"Distinguished by the small caespitose habit with elliptical leaves eventually surpassed by a flexuous, raceme of flowers. The petals are remarkable with broad, thick, flattened margins. Apparently caused by pressure from the stigmas while in bud, the inner margin curves inward, exposing the central portion of a transverse callus that is otherwise covered by a broad margin. The broad apex of the lip slightly protrudes." Luer 2004
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
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