Stelis leucopogon Rchb. f. 1866

SECTION Stelis

Photo by Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts

Drawing

Drawing by Oscar Duque

to

Common Name or Meaning The White Bearded Stelis

Flower Size to 1/2" [to 1.25 cm]

Found from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Peru as a small sized, cool to cold growing, caespitose epiphyte at elevations of 1000 to 2150 meters with stout ramicauls enveloped basally by 2 to 3 scarious sheaths and carrying a single, apical, very thick, leathery, narrowly elliptic to elliptic-oblanceolate, obtuse and retuse apically leaf that has a short, broad petiole that blooms mostly in the summer on a loosely many flowered, to 12" [to 30 cm] long stout inflorescence with funnel-shaped floral bracts and large [for the genus], simultaneously opening flowers that open in the day and close at nights for several days. THe major difference between this species and S superbiens is the pubescent sepals of S leucopogon.

This species is said by many to be a synonym of S superbiens but I have kept it and its synonyms separate for now

Synonyms Stelis bernoullii Schlechter 1918; Stelis cascajalensis Ames 1923; Stelis eximia Ames 1923

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

*Beitr. Orchid.-K. C. Amer.: 95 Rchb.f 1866

Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 174. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923;

The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946;

Orchids of Guatemala Ames Correll 1952 drawing good other than the pilose margins of the flower;

Orchids of Peru Vol 1 Schweinfurth 1958 drawing good other than the pilose margins of the flower;

Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965;

Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 7 385 - 448 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1975 drawing hmm;

Orchidaceae Stelis Swartz A Compendium Duque 2008;

Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 photo ok;

Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018

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