Stelis rutrum Luer & R.Vásquez 1981 SECTION Stelis
Photo by © Saul Altamirano A. and The Parque Nacional Carrasco, Cochabamba Bolivia, Orquideas del Proyecto Hidroelectrico Ivirizu Website
Drawings by © Carl Luer and Selbyana 32(1,2): 101 Luer & Vasquez 2018
EARLY
Common Name The Shovel-Shaped Stelis [an allusion to the shape of the lip]
Flower Size .2" [5 mm]
Found in Cochabamba department of Bolivia at elevations around 2400 meters as a mini-miniature to minaiture sized, cold growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect, slender ramicauls enveloped by a tubular sheath below the middle and 2 to 3 others below and carrying a single,a pical, erect, coriaceous, elliptical, acutet to subacute, cuneate below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the early summer on an erect, through a spathe from a node below the apex of the ramicaul, peduncle [2 to 3.5 cm] long, rachis [4 to 11.5 cm] long, erect, strict to subflexuous, subcongested, distichous, mostly simultaneously, few to many flowered inflorescence with oblique, acute shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying flowers that usually have purple, occasionally yellow glabrous sepals.
"This rather frequent, caespitose species is characterized by slender ramicauls and an acute, elliptical, petiolate leaf that is surpassed by a several- to many-flowered raceme. Although usually dark purple, a few collections with yellow flowers, one of which includes the holotype, have been found. The sepals are broadly ovate and glabrous; the petals are obtuse, three-veined, concave with a distinct transverse callus, and they overlap the lateral margins of the lip. The lip is concave and smooth below a distinctive thin, cleft bar with a flat dorsum, and the apex is obtusely angled with a thin margin. Rarely, the tip of the lip is shortly acuminate . A larger, robust, repent species with larger flowers with sepals .16 to .24" [4 to 6 mm] long, instead of .1 to .12" [2.5 to 3 mm] long, but with similar petals and lip, except for the lip being thicker, is Stelis pycnochila Luer & R.Vásquez." Luer & R.Vásquez. 2018
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
* Phytologia 89(3): 237, Luer & Vasquez 1981;
Orquidaeceae Stelis Swartz A Compendium Duque 2008 drawing fide;
Selbyana 32(1,2): 101 Luer & Vasquez 2018;
Selbyana 32(1,2): 156 Luer & Vasquez 2018 Drawing fide;
The Parque Nacional Carrasco, Cochabamba Bolivia, Orquideas del Proyecto Hidroelectrico Ivirizu Website 2021 photo fide;
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