Pleurothallis tribuloides (Sw.) Lindl. 1830 SUBGENUS Specklinia SECTION Tribulodes Luer 1986 Photo by © Lourens Grobler

Plant and Flowers Photo courtesy of Ken Rossman and his Orchid Photo Homepage

Closeup of flowers Photo courtesy of Dale and Deni Borders.

Plant with flower and developing seed pod.Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl

Plant with seed pods Photo courtesy of Noble Bashor.

Plant in situ Panama Photo by Wilfried Löderbusch.

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Common Name The Thorny Pleurothallis [Refers to the spiny seed pods]

Flower Size 1/4" [5 to 8 mm]

Found in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica and Surinam as an epiphytic species found at altitudes of 300 to 1300 meters in dense, wet, evergreen or deciduous forests growing on oaks in open fields as a miniature, cool to hot growing densly caespitose, unifoliate epiphyte that blooms on an apical, short to 1/4", few [to 4], succesively flowered, racemose, inflorescence that holds the flowers close to the base of the subcoriaceous, elliptic-oblanceolate, apiculate, gradually narrowing below into the petiolate base leaf and subtended by a very short ramicaul enveloped basally by 2 to 3 tubular sheaths, occuring in the late summer and fall. The flower can have a cockleshell burr-like appendage at it's base, this being the forming seed pod. After the flower has disappeared the seed pod matures and turns dark bluegreen. Give this species cool to warm temperatures, mounted or potted in a well draining medium, year round water and moderate to heavy shade.

Synonyms Cryptophoranthus acaulis Krzl.; Cryptophoranthus tribuloides (Sw.) A. Dietr. 1984; Cymbidium tribuloides [Sw.] Spreng. 1826; Dendrobium tribuloides Sw 1806; *Epidendrum tribuloides Sw. 1788; Humboldtia tribulodes (Lindl.) Kuntze; Humboltia tribulodes (Sw.) Kuntze 1891; Pleurothallis fallax Rchb.f 1855; Pleurothallis spathulata A. Rich. & Gal. 1845; Specklinia tribuloides (Sw.) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001; Tribulago tribuloides (Sw.) Luer 2004

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1855 as P fallax; Xenia Orchidaceae Vol 3 Reichenbach 1894 drawing fide; Flora of Jamaica Fawcett & Rendle 1910; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 17: 24. Panama Schlechter 1922; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 196. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 5 1979 as Cryptophoranthus acaulis; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1128 Dodson 1984 drawing fide; Systematics of Pleurothallis Vol 3 Luer 1986; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum plate 1484 Atwood 1992 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 62 No 11 1993 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 64 No 12 1995 photo; Systematics and evolution of the genus Pleurothallis R. Br. (Orchidaceae) in the Greater Antilles Hagen Stenzel 2004 as P tribuloides drawing fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVI Luer 2004 as Tribulago tribuloides; The Orchids of Cuba Llamacho & Larramendi 2005 as Tribulago tribuloides; Orchidaceae Antillanae Nir 2000; Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4 2001 as Specklinia tribuloides; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVIII Luer 2006 as Tribulago tribuloides drwaing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 No 11 2008; Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 5 Morales 2009 photo fide;

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