Masdevallia molossus Rchb.f. 1877 SUBGENUS Nidificia Luer 2000 Photo by Patricia Harding.
Photo by Sebastian Viera © and His Flicker Orchid Photo website
Common Name The Molossus Masdevallia [a genus of bats refering to the gaping appearance of the flower]
Flower Size 3/8"[1 cm]
Found in Antioquia and Valle de Cauca Colombia in forests near watercourses at elevations of 1600 to 2100 meters as a miniature sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte with slender, suberect ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 loose, tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect to suberect, coriaceous, narrowly elliptical, subacute to obtuse leaf that gradually narrows into the petiolate base and blooms in the fall through spring on a slender, 1 3/4" [4.2 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence arising from low on the ramicaul with a thin sheath near the base and a thin, tubular floral bract.
Synonyms Buccella molossus (Rchb.f.) Luer 2006 Masdevallia antioquiensis F.Lehm. & Kraenzl. 1899; Masdevallia schmidtchenii Kraenzl. 1921
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Systematics of Masdevallia Vol 2 Luer 1986; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 2 COS 1991 photo fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXV Systematics of Masdevallia Part Five 2005 drawing fide; Libro Rojo de Plantas De Colombia Vol 6 Primera Parte Saenz 2007
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