Stelis grandiflora Lindl. 1837
SECTION Stelis
Photos by © S Manning
Drawings by © Carl Luer
Common Name The Large Flowered Stelis
Flower Size .36" [9 mm]
Found in Guyana, La Paz department of Bolivia and Rio de Janiero state of Brazil at elevations of 900 to 1000 meters as a mini-miniature sized, warm growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect ramicauls enveloped by 3, light ocher sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, narrowly obovate, leathery, faintly conduolicate, slightly infolded towards the base leaf that blooms in the spring on a single, erect, arising through a spathe from a node above the apex of the ramicaul, slightly bent, peduncle 2 to 4" [5 to 10 cm] long, rachis 14" [35 cm] long, mostly simultaneously, 25 to 30 flowered inflorescence with erect, more or less inflated, oblique, acuminate, more or less imbricating, longer than the ovary floral bracts and carryign purple to brown colored flowers.
"Stelis grandiflora Lindl. is greatly variable in size over through its wide distribution from Venezuela through Ecuador, and southern Brazil. It is still unreported from intervening Peru. The species is distinguished by a congested raceme of relatively large to large, expanded flowers. The floral bracts are conspicuous as they alternatingly overlap. The sepals are deeply connate to form a subcircular flower with nearly 180° angles. The thick, obtuse petals and type A lip are unremarkable." Luer & Vasquez 2018
Kew now includes S muscifera, S megantha and S tristyla as synonyms of this species, I for now have kept them and their synoyms separate pending further research.
Synonyms Stelis atrobrunnea Schltr. 1929; Stelis grandiflora var. tweedieana Lindl. 1837; Stelis robusta Schltr. 1918; Stelis trianguliflora Schltr. 1929
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
*Companion Bot. Mag. 2: 353 Lindley 1837;
Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 7: 270 Schlechter 1918 as S robusta;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 27: 40 Schlechter 1929 as S atrobrunnea;
Orchidaceae Brasilense Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 drawing ok;
Orquidaeceae Stelis Swartz A Compendium Duque 2008 drawing ok;
The Organ Mountain Range Its History and its Orchids Miller, Warren and Seehauer 2008 drawing ok;
Selbyana 32(1,2): 52 Luer & Vasquez 2018
Selbyana 32(1,2): 141 Luer & Vasquez 2018 Drawing fide;
Harvard Pap. Bot. 23: 151 Luer & Escobar 2018 in part see S tristyla S muscifera, S megantha drawing fide
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