Stelis schmidtchenii Schltr. 1924 SECTION Stelis
Drawings by © Carl Luer
Drawing by © Oscar Duque
Common Name Schmidtchen's Stelis [German Orchid Collector in Colombia early 1900's]
Flower Size .1” [2.5 mm]
Found in Antioquia department of Colombia and Venezuela in cloud forests at elevations around 300 to 1200 [Duque] and 1900 to 2250 meters [Luer] as a mini-miniature [Luer] to miniature [Duque] sized, hot to cold growing, densely caespitose epiphyte with erect, stout ramicauls carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, narrowly elliptical, subacute to obtuse, cuneate below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms on an erect, filiform, somewhat fractiflex, 2.8” [7 cm] long including the 1 to 1.4” [2.5 to 3.5 cm] long peduncle, mostly simultaneously several flowered inflorescence with small, pale green, membraneous, shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying light green flowers with abundant long red hairs and a greenish pink central apparatus [Duque] and carrying purple flowers with white or rose pubescence and a purple central apparatus [Luer].
"The flowers of S schmidttchenii have a certain resemblance to those of S calotricha because of the red hairs in the petals." Oscar Duque 2008
"With narrowly elliptical leaves and shorter ramicauls this caespitose, little species is vegetatively variable. One to three delicate, hairlike, flexuous racemes of tiny flowers are produced slowly and successively in many-flowered racemes with several flowers open simultaneously toward the tip. Great lengths accumulate in long-cultivated plants. The sepals are ovate, three-veined, and purple with a white pubescence. The petals are thick and three-veined, and the lip is a simple type A." Luer & Escobar 2018
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
*Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 27: 157 Schlechter 1924;
Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 5 Dunsterville & Garay 1966 as S calotricha not = drawing fide;
Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 as S calotricha not = drawing good;
Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing not - S calotricha;
Orquidaeceae Stelis Swartz A Compendium Duque 2008 drawing fide;
Harvard Pap. Bot. 23: 43 Luer & Escobar 2018 Drawing fide
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