Stelis purpurea (Ruiz & Pav.) Willd. 1805
SECTION Humboldtia
Photo by © Alexander Hirtz
Photo by © Lourens Grobler
Photo by © Patricia Harding
Drawings by © Carl Luer and Selbyana 32(1,2): 89 Luer & Vasquez 2018
to 
Common Name The Purple Stelis
Flower Size .2" [.5 cm]
Found in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia in damp montane forests at altitudes of 150 to 2900 meters as a medium to large sized, hot to cold growing epiphyte or terrestrial with long, stout ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 loose, tubular sheaths carrying a oblong to elliptic or oval, fleshy, acute and tridenticulate apically, channelled petiole leaf that gradually narrows to the base below that blooms in the spring on a racemose, to 18 2/5" [46 cm] long, many flowered inflorescence with conspicuous, tubular, spreading, acuminate floral bracts.
"Stelis purpurea is usually a robust plant characterized by a very shortly repent to a densely caespitose habit with many-flowered racemes that usually far exceed the elliptical, petiolate leaves. The floral bracts are long and more or less inflated and undulate. The flowers are variable in size, some large specimens equaling those of S. maxima Lindl. The color varies among all shades of purple to yellow-green. The five-(occasionally seven-)veined dorsal sepal is ovate-triangular, more or less acute, usually about six millimeters long, and the lateral sepals are connate into a concave synsepal. The petals are proportionately large with broadly rounded, thick margins. The apex of the type A lip is also rounded and thick, and on the dorsum a low, rounded callus, sometimes lobulated, fits beneath the column." Luer & Vasquez 2018
Stelis alpina is said to be a synonym of this species but for now I have left them separate
Synonyms *Humboldtia purpurea Ruiz & Pav. 1798; *Humboltia purpurea Ruiz & Pav. 1798; Pleurothallis longerepens Schltr. 1921; Pleurothallis millei Schltr. 1917; Pleurothallis purpurea (Ruiz & Pav.) Schltr. 1921; Pleurothallis rhizomatosa Schltr. 1921; Stelis abrupta Rchb.f. 1876; Stelis acutissima Lindl. 1858; Stelis asseris O.Duque 1997; Stelis connata C. Presl 1858; Stelis cordibractea Schltr. 1921; Stelis dentata O.Duque 1997; Stelis endocharis Rchb.f. 1876; Stelis hemicardia Rchb.f. 1876; Stelis huancabambae Kraenzl. 1916; Stelis pachyphylla Schltr. 1920; Stelis pachystele Schltr. 1920; Stelis phaeantha Schltr. 1929; Stelis repanda Luer & Hirtz 2002; Stelis robusta Schltr. 1924; Stelis robustior Garay 1979; Stelis rusbyi Rolfe 1895; Stelis saxicola Schltr. 1912; Stelis yungasensis Schltr. 1929
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Syst. Veg. Fl. Peruv. Chil.: 235 Ruiz & Pavon 1798 as Humboltia purpurea;
* Sp. Pl., ed. 4. 4: 140 Willd. 1805;
Reliq. Haenk. 1: 103 C Presl. 1827 as S connata;
Fol. Orchid. 8: 14 Lindley 1859 as S acutissima;
Fol. Orchid. 8: 8 Lindley 1859 as S dubia;
Linnaea 41: 7 Rchb.f 1876 as S abrupta;
Linnaea 41: 8 Rchb.f 1876 as S endocharis;
Linnaea 41: 8 Lindley 1876 as S hemicardia;
Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 4: 261 Rolfe 1895 as S rusbyi; href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/7031#page/458/mode/1up"> Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 10: 452 Schlechter 1912 as S saxicola;
Beibl. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 117: 20 Kraaenzl. 1916 as S huancabambae;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 15: 52 Schlechter 1917 as P millei nom. illeg.;
Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten II Colombia Schlechter 1920 as S fruticulus;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 91 Schlechter 1920 as S pachyphylla;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 92 Schlechter 1920 as S pachystele;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 9: 68 Schlechter 1921 as S phaeantha;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 8: 62 Schlechter 1921 as P rhizomatosa;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 8: 51 Schlechter 1921 as S cordibractea;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 8: 129 Schlechter 1921 as Pleurothallis longerepens;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 9: 142 Schlechter 1921 as Pleurothallis purpurea nom. illeg;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 27: 38 Schlechter 1924 as S robusta nom. illeg.
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 27: 49 Schlechter 1929 as S yungasensis;
Orchids of Peru Schweinfurth Vol 1 1958 as S acutissima;
Orchids of Peru Vol 1 Schweinfurth 1958;
Fieldiana Biology, Vol 33, 1st Supple. to the Orchids of Peru Schweinfurth 1970; Orchidaceae Brasilense Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 as S robusta drawing ok; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 6 Dunsterville & Garay 1976 as S maxima; Bot. Mus. Leafl. 27: 185 Garay 1979 as S robustior; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 331 Dodson 1980 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Peru Plate 0178 Dodson & Bennett 1989 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Bolivia plate 0380 Dodson & Vasquez 1989 as S connata drawing okish; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; Orquideologia Vol 20 #2 1997 as S asseris drawing/photo fide; Orquideologia Vol 20 #2:339 2002 as S dentata drawing/photo fide; Orquideas de Bolivia Vol 1 Vasquez & Ibisch 2000 as S connata drawing hmm; Orquideas de Bolivia Vol 1 Vasquez & Ibisch 2000; Orquideas de Bolivia Vol 1 Vasquez & Ibisch 2000 as S rusbyi; Orquideas de Bolivia Vol 1 Vasquez & Ibisch 2000 as S yungasensis; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 772 Bennett & Christenson 2001 as Stelis truncata; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 42 - 43 pg 2626 - 2762 Brieger 2001; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXIV A First Century of Stelis of Ecuador Luer 2002 as S repanda Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXIV A First Century of Stelis of Ecuador Luer 2002 as S repanda drawing good; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVI Pleurothallis subgenus Acianthera A Second Century of Stelis of Ecuador Epibator Ophidion Zootrophion Luer 2004 as S alpina drawing good; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 5 Dodson 2004 photo fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 5 Dodson 2004 as S repanda drawing ok; Orchidaceae Stelis Sw. A Compendium:329 O Duque 2008 as S asseris drawing fide; Orchidaceae Stelis Swartz A Compendium Duque 2008 as S connata drawing ok; Orchidaceae Stelis Swartz, A Compendium Duque 2008 as S dentata drawing ok; Orchidaceae Stelis Swartz A Compendium Duque 2008 as S endocharis drawing ok; Orchidaceae Stelis Swartz, A Compendium Duque 2008 as S hemicardia drawing ok; Orchidaceae Stelis Swartz, A Compendium Duque 2008 as S pachyphylla; Orchidaceae Stelis Swartz, A Compendium Duque 2008 as S phaeantha drawing ok; Orchidaceae Stelis Swartz, A Compendium Duque 2008 drawing ok; Orchidaceae Stelis Swartz, A Compendium Duque 2008 as S robustior; Orchid Species Of Peru Zelenko & Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXX Lepanthes of Jamaica Stelis of Ecuador Part IV Luer 2009 Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXX Lepanthes of Jamaica Stelis of Ecuador Part IV Luer 2009 drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 81 #2 2017 photo fide; Selbyana 32(1,2): 89 Luer & Vasquez 2018 Selbyana 32(1,2): 152 Luer & Vasquez 2018 Drawing fide; Harvard Pap. Bot. 23: 21 Luer & Escobar 2018 as S asseris Drawing fide;
Harvard Pap. Bot. 23: 37 Luer & Escobar 2018 as S pachystele Drawing fide; Harvard Pap. Bot. 23: 166 Luer & Escobar 2018 drawing fide
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