Ligeophila stigmatoptera (Rchb.f.) Garay 1977 Photo courtesy of © Marcelo R Miranda and his Flickr Orchid Photo Website

Inflorescence Photo courtesy of © Dalton Holland Baptista and © Orchidstudium

Common Name The Winged Stigma Ligeophila

Flower Size .4" [1 cm]

Found in Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Surinam, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina in lower montane forests at elevations around 140 to 1200 meters as a small sized, hot to warm growing terrestrial orchid with a stout, glabrous, pinky brown with pale flecked stem carrying towards the apex only, medium green with slight velvety sheen above, paler and dull below, sucate mid nerve, fleshily ribbed, elliptic, undulate margins, acute, basally clasping leves that blooms in the spring on a terminal, short, racemose, pinky green, pubescent, several flowered inflorescence

CAUTION Kew separates this species and L juruensis [syn Physurus santensis] but with the references available to me at this time I can see no distinction so please use with caution. If they are 2 species then this species represented most likely is L juruensis as the references for L stigmatoptera have the midlobes of the lip as tendril instead of wide lobes and there is no isthmus at the base of the lip.

Synonyms Erythrodes juruenensis (Hoehne) Ames 1922; Erythrodes santensis (Kraenzl.) C.Schweinf. 1941; Erythrodes stigmatoptera (Rchb.f.) Pabst 1957; Ligeophila juruenensis (Hoehne) Garay 1977; Physurus juruenensis Hoehne 1910; Physurus santensis Kraenzl. 1911; *Physurus stigmatopterus Rchb.f. 1873

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Xenia Orchidaceae vol 2 Rchb.f 1873 as Physurus stigmatopterus; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 5 Dunsterville & Garay 1966 as Erythrodes stigmatoptera drawing fide; Flora de Venezuela Volumen 15 Parte 1 Foldats 1969 as Erythrodes stigmatoptera drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide; The Orchids of Surinam Werkhoven 1986; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 2 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003 drawing ok

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