Stelis cyathochila Luer & R.Escobar 2016 SECTION Stelis

TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer

LATER

Common Name The Spoon-Shaped Lip Stelis

Flower Size .24" [6 mm]

Found in Norte de Santander department of Colombia at elevations around 2600 meters as a small sized, cold growing, densely caespitose epiphyte with erect, stout ramicauls enveloped by a close, tubular sheath below the middle and 2 others below and at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptical, acute to subacute, narrowly cuneate below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the later spring on an erect, arising through a spathe from a node below the apex of the ramicaul, peduncle 3.2" [8 cm] long, rachis to 10" [to 25 cm] long, erect, congested, disitchous, mostly simultaneously, many flowered inflorescence with tubular, close, obtuse, shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying pale green flowers.

"While searching for the long-lost Masdevallia mastodon Rchb.f., this species was collected 30 years ago at a remote location in the Eastern Cordillera. It is characterized by a large habit with stout ramicauls; an elliptical, petiolate leaf; and a long raceme of medium-sized flowers. The sepals are ovate with the lateral sepals antrorse. The spoon-shaped lip is smooth and rounded with narrow margins, but a thick, transverse callus occupies the base." Luer 2016

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

*Harvard Pap. Bot. 21: 198 Luer & Escobar 2016 drawing fide

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