Pleurothallis breviflora Lindl. 1841 SUBGENUS Acianthera [Scheidw.] Luer 1986

Photo by © Dalton Holland Baptista and Orchidstudium

Drawing

Drawing by © Carl Luer and The Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Jany Renz Herbaria Website

Common Name or Meaning The Short Flowered Pleurothallis

Flower Size .2" [5 mm]

Found and where plentiful in Minas Gerais, Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo states of Brazil in wet primary forests at elevations around 600 to 1300 meters as a mini-miniature sized, warm to cool growing, repent epiphyte with stout, erect ramicauls enveloped by 2 to 3 loose, tubular, spotted brown sheaths and carrying a single, apical, erect, thickly coriaceous, elliptical-obovate, leathery, dark olive green, obtuse, cuneate below into the subsessile base, leaf that blooms in the fall on 1 to 2, arising through a broad, loose, spotted spathe at the apex of the ramicaul, .6" [1.5 cm] long, abbreviated, congested, successively single to 3 flowered inflorescence with an inflated, minutely pubescent, enclosing the base of the flowers floral bract

"Characterized by a stout ramicaul and an inflated, spotted spathe at the base of the thickly coriaceous leaf. The sepals are very thick and pubescent externally with a long pubescent ovary. The petals are obovate with a thin carina above the lower margin reminiscent of Masdevallia. The lip is more or less standard for the subgenus with a pair of calli on the middle third within the forward margins of low, lateral lobes and a minutely biauriculate base." Luer 2004

"The type states Oaxaca Mexico? without collection data as the type location, most likely in error." Luer & Toscano 2015

Synonyms Acianthera breviflora (Lindl.) Luer 2004; Acianthera spilantha (Barb.Rodr.) Luer 2007; Humboldtia breviflora (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Myoxanthus spilanthus (Barb.Rodr.) Luer 1986; Pleurothallis paspaliformis Loefgr. 1918

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

* Edwards's Bot. Reg. 27(Misc.): 59 Lindley 1841;

Gen. Spec. Orchid. 2: 32 Barb Rodr. 1881 as P spilantha;

Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 667 Kuntze 1891 as Humboltia breviflora;

Arch. Jard. Bot. Rio de Janeiro 2: 53 Loefgren 1918 as P paspaliformis;

Orchidaceae Brasilensis Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 as P spilantha drawing ok;

Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol III Systematics of Pleurothallis Luer 1986 as Myoxanthus spilanthus;

Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVI Pleurothallis subgenus Acianthera and Three Allied subgenera, A Second Century of new Species of Stelis of Ecuador, Epibator, Ophidion and Zootrophion Luer 2004;

Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVI Pleurothallis subgenus Acianthera and Three Allied subgenera, A Second Century of new Species of Stelis of Ecuador, Epibator, Ophidion and Zootrophion Luer 2004 drawing fide;

Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVI Pleurothallis subgenus Acianthera and Three Allied subgenera, A Second Century of new Species of Stelis of Ecuador, Epibator, Ophidion and Zootrophion Luer 2004 as Acianthera brevifolia spalm;

Icones Pleurothallidianrum Vol XXIX A Third Century of Stelis of Ecuador Systematics of Apoda-Prorepentia Luer 2007as Acianthera spilantha;

The Organ Mountain Range Its History and Its Orchids Miller, Warren, Miller and Seehawer 2008 as P spilantha drawing fide

Harvard Papers in Botany , Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 39–68 2015,© NEW SPECIES AND NOMENCLATURAL NOTES IN THEPLEUROTHALLIDINAE (ORCHIDACEAE) FROM BRAZIL Luer & Toscano 2015 as Acianthera breviflora Drawing fide

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