Trichosalpinx atropurpurea Luer & Hirtz 1997 SUBGENUS Tubella

TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer and The Epidendra Orchid Website

Common Name The Dark Purple Trichosalpinx

Flower Size .2" [5 mm]

Found in Loja province of Ecuador at elevations around 3350 meters as a small sized, cold growing epiphyte with erect, superposed, comparatively stout ramicauls enveloped by 8 to 11 lepanthiform sheaths with ciliate ostia and carrying a single, apical, thickly coriaceous, erect to suberect, elliptical, subacute to obtuse, contracted below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the fall on several, simultaneous, secund, loose, .8 to 1.2" [2 to 3 cm] long, few flowered inflorescence arising from near the apex of the ramicaul.

"Produces caespitose plants with erect ramicauls that are often prolific. Two to four short racemes of several, comparitively large, dark red-purple flowers are produced simultaneously. The petals and lip are large for the flower. The simple lip is obscurely lobed below the middle and the disc is featureless. T atropurpurea is one of three species found together in southern Ecuador near the Peruvian border and appear to be endemic to Ecuador only. The others are T jimbruae and T metamorpha

Synonyms Tubella atropurpurea (Luer & Hirtz) Archila 2000

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XV Systematics of Trichosalpinx Luer 1997 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 89 #1 2020 photo fide

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------