Pleurothallis picta Lindley 1836 SUBGENUS Specklinia SECTION Hymenodanthae SUBSECTION Longicaulae [Barb. Rodr.] Luer 1986 Photo courtesy of Joseph Dougherty
Photo by © Victor Hugo R. Chaparro
Plant Photo by Milan Vágner
Another Color Form Photo courtesy of Patricia Harding
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LATE 
Common Name The Painted Pleurothallis
Flower Size 1/16" [2 mm]
This caespitose, miniature sized, epiphytic species is found in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Fr Guyana, Surinam, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia in wet montane and piedmont forests at elevations of 70-2100 meters with short, minute, ramicauls encased by 3 shortly imbricate, open subtubular papery sheaths with a single, apical, narrowly oblanceolate, long attenuate, channeled to the petiolate base, apex tridenticulate, coriaceous, dark green leaf where it blooms on a lateral, 4" [10 cm] long, from the apex of the ramicaul [well developed erect one leafed stems], filiform [thin], slightly fractiflex [zigzagged], racemose, several [8 to 11] flowered inflorescence with minute, ovate-triangular, pale brown floral bracts that is much longer than the leaves occuring in the spring through late summer.
Often sold as Pleurothallis [Specklinia] marginata, a name that is no longer valid due to another plant with the same name, now Pleurothallis [Specklinia] alata, and by precedence as Pleurothallis picta was published first. This species is often also confused with Pleurothallis [Specklinia] pissina which has successively opening flowers while P picta has simultaneously opening flowers.
Synonyms Humboldtia florulenta (Linden & Rchb.f.) Kuntze 1891; Humboldtia marginata (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Humboldtia picta (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Humboltia picta (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Lepanthes plurifolia Barb. Rodr. 1891; Pleurothallis densifolia Rolfe 1895; Pleurothallis dryadum Schltr. 1923; Pleurothallis florulenta Linden & Rchb.f. 1855; Pleurothallis integrilabia Ames, F.T.Hubb. & C.Schweinf. 1934; Pleurothallis marginata Lindl. 1838; Pleurothallis pluriflora (Barb. Rodr.) Cogn. 1986; Specklinia florulenta (Linden & Rchb.f.) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001; Specklinia marginata (Lindl.) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001; Specklinia picta (Lindl.) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1855 as P florulenta; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 191. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923 as P marginata; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1961 as Syn to P grobyi; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide; Systematics of Pleurothallis Vol 3 Luer 1986; The Orchids of Surinam Werkhoven 1986 photo ok; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 354 Bennett & Christenson 1995 drawing ok; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4 2001 as Specklina florulenta; Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4 2001 as Specklinia marginata; Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4 2001 as Specklina picta; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo ok; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVIII Luer 2006 as Specklinia picta drawing fide; Orchid Species Of Peru Zelenko & Bermudez 2009 photo fide as Specklinia picta; Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 5 Morales 2009 photo fide; Las Orquideas del Peru Izerskyy & Bezverhov 2011 as Specklinia picta photo not = ?; An Illustrated Field Guide to the Orchids of the Yotoco Forest Reserve Colombia Kolanowska, Escobar, Sanchez & Szlachetko 2011 as Specklinia picta drawing/photo fide
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