Stelis purpurea (Ruiz & Pav.) Willd. 1805 SUBGENUS Stelis Duque 2008 Photo courtesy of Patricia Harding

Part shadeCold to Hot Spring

Common Name The Purple Stelis

Flower Size 2/5" [1 cm]

The photo dtermination cannot be erified as correct.

Found in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru as a medium to large sized, hot to cold growing epiphyte or terrestrial in damp montane forests at altitudes of 150 to 2900 meters long, stout ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 loose, tubular sheaths carrying a oblong to elliptic or oval, fleshy, acute and tridenticulate apically, channelled petiole leaf that gradually narrows to the base below that blooms in the spring on a racemose, to 18 2/5" [46 cm] long, many flowered inflorescence with conspicuous, tubular, spreading, acuminate floral bracts.

Synonyms *Humboldtia purpurea Ruiz & Pav. 1798; *Humboltia purpurea Ruiz & Pav. 1798; Pleurothallis purpurea (Ruiz & Pav.) Schltr. 1921; Stelis acutissima Lindl. 1858; Stelis cordibractea Schltr. 1921; Stelis endocharis Rchb.f. 1876; Stelis fruticulus Schltr. 1920 ; Stelis huancabambae Kraenzl. 1916; Stelis maxima Lindl. 1845; Stelis pachyphylla Schltr. 1920; Stelis phaeantha Schltr. 1929; Stelis truncata Lindl. 1836

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten II Colombia Schlechter 1920 as S fruticulus; Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten II Colombia Schlechter 1920 as S pachyphylla; Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten IV Peru Schlechter 1921 as S phaeantha; Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten III Ecuador Schlechter 1921 as S cordibractea; Fieldiana Biology, Vol 33, 1st Supple. to the Orchids of Peru Schweinfurth 1970; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 6 Dunsterville & Garay 1976 as S maxima; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 331 Dodson 1980; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Peru Plate 0178 Dodson & Bennett 1989; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 772 Bennett & Christenson 2001 as Stelis truncata; Orchidaceae Stelis Swartz, A Compendium Duque 2008; Orchid Species Of Peru Zelenko & Bermudez 2009 photo fide

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