Masdevallia limax Luer 1978 SUBGENUS Masdevallia SECTION Masdevallia SUBSECTION Saltatrices [Rchb.f] Luer 1986 Photo by © Tanya Romanova and her Flickr Orchid Photo Webpage

Plant and Flower Photos courtesy of Dale and Deni Borders.

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Common Name The Slug-Like Masdevallia

Flower Size 3/4" [2 cm]

Found in southwestern Ecuador at altitudes of 1400 to 2400 meters and is a miniature sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte blooming with blackish, erect, slender ramicauls enveloped by 2 to 3 loose, tubular sheaths carrying a single, apcial, elliptical, acute leaf with the base narrowly cuneate into the petiole and blooms in the summer and fall on an erect to horizontal, slender, 5" [13 cm] long, solitary flowered inflorescence arising from low on the ramicaul with a bract near the base and a tubular floral bract holding the long-lasting, waxy flower at or just amid the leaves. Best characterized by the bright orange, tubular, arcuate flowers, that are inflated below a constriction between the middle and distal quarter of the tube. Low summer temperatures, cold to warm and good air circulation keep this little gem happy.

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Systematics of Masdevallia Vol 2 Luer 1986; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXIII Systematics of Masdevallia Part 4 Luer 2002 drawing fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 COS 2002; AOS Bulletin Vol 56 No 11 1987 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 9 2003 photo; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 3 Dodson 2002 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 72 No 4 2008 photo; Orchidaceae Masdevallia and Affiliates Dodson & Luer 2009 drawing fide;

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