Lepanthes chameleon Ames 1923 SUBGENUS Lepanthes SECTION Lepanthes SUBSECTION Lepanthes SERIES Lepanthes
Photos by © Bogarin & Jimenez/Holotype by Ames , Used under permission of Epidendra Website CR
Common Name The Chameleon Lepanthes [Oakes Ames noted that the purple color of young flowers of L. chameleon fades away in mature flowers, hence the comparison to a chameleon]
Flower Size 1.2" [3.1 cm] tall
Found in Costa Rica in cloud forests at elevations of 2200 to 2700 meters as a mini-miniature sized, cold growing epiphytic species with erect, slender, ramicauls enveloped by 7 to 11, hairy, lepanthiform sheaths and carrying a single ovate, acute, tridenticulate apically, gradually narrowing below into the abbreviated conduplicate base leaf that blooms in the fall on an erect, to 2.4" [to 6 cm] long, successively single few flowered, racemose inflorescence.
" This species is closely related to L. genetoapophantica and L. horrida, but it is easily distinguished by the ciliate-dentate sepals and the hirsute synsepal (mostly at the base) contrasting with the entire, glabrous sepals of L. genetoapophantica and L. horrida." Bogarín & Gravend. 2018
SynonymsReferences W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Lankester's Epidendra Website CR CHECKED Type OK; * Schedul. Orchid. 4: 28. Ames 1923; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; AOS Bulletin Vol 80 #12 2011 photo fide; Anchored hybrid enrichment generated nuclear, plastid and mitochondrial markers resolve the Lepanthes horrida (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae) species complex Bogarín & Gravend. 2018 Drawing/photo fide; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 2 Lacaena to Pteroglossa Pupulin 2020 photo fide
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