Stelis dolabrata Luer 2018

SECTION Humboldtia

TYPE Drawing by © Carl Luer and Selbyana 32(1,2): 40 Luer & Vasquez 2018

Common Name The Axe-Shaped Stelis [referring to the labellum]

Flower Size .12" [3 mm]

Found in La Paz department of Bolivia at elevations around 2900 meters as a miniature to small sized, cold growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect, slender ramicauls enveloped by a tubular sheath below the middle and 1 to 2 others at the base and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptical, obtuse, cuneate below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the spring on an erect, arising through a slender spathe from a node below the apex of the ramicaul, peduncle 1.2 to 1.6" [3 to 4 cm] long, rachis 4.8 to 6.4" [12 to 16 cm] long, erect, secund, congested, simultaneously many, numerous flowered inflorescence with oblique, acute, as long as the ovary floral bracts and carrying light yellow-green flowers.

"This large, caespitose species is characterized by an elongated, crowded raceme of small flowers that far surpass the elliptical leaf. The lateral sepals that comprise a concave synsepal are connate below the middle and adherent above the middle. The petals are thick and concave with a rounded margin. The wedge-shaped lip is most unusual with a thin, erect bar (the blade of the axe) created by the acute descent of the dorsum. In the center is a broad, rounded notch, or cleft, that divides the lip into two equal halves. The broadly rounded apex (the heavy head of the axe) is thickened.." Luer & Vasquez 2018

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

* Selbyana 32(1,2): 40 Luer & Vasquez 2018

Selbyana 32(1,2): 137 Luer & Vasquez 2018 Drawing fide

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