Pleurothallis sicaria Lindl 1849 SUBGENUS Acianthera SECTION Sicariae SUBSECTION Sicariae Luer 1986
Photo by © Duane McDowell and his Flickr Orchid Photo Website
Photo by © Jay Pfahl
to 
Common Name The Knife Weilding Assasin Pleurothallis [refers to the Leaf and Ramicaul]
Flower Size 1/8"
Found from Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela as a medium sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte at 1000 to 2500 meters with arching to pendant ramicauls swollen basally becoming terete and then gradually widening to a complanate wide apex and enveloped basally by 2 to 3 tubular sheaths and carrying a single, apical, coriaceous, narrowly linear-elliptic, acute, gradually narrowing below into the ancipitous base leaf that blooms from the summer through the winter on a short, apical, fasciculate, few flowered inflorescence arising through a spathe that holds the simultaneoulsy opening flowers close to the apex of the leaf. The arrows on the plant photo show where the flowers appear.
Synonyms Acianthera alpina (Ames) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001; Acianthera sicaria (Lindl.) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001; Humboldtia sicaria (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Humboltia sicaria (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Pleurothallis alpina Ames 1923; Pleurothallis trigonopoda Klotzsch 1853; Pleurothallis tripteris Rchb. f. 1849;
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten III Ecuador Schlechter 1921 as P wolfiana; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946 as P alpina drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 6 1958; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959 drawing good; Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #9 1967; AOS Bulletin Vol 38 No 6 1969; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 2 1970 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing good; Orquideologia Vol 16 No 1 1983; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Systematics of Pleurothallis Vol 3 Luer 1986 as Pleurothallis alpina drawing fide; Systematics of Pleurothallis Vol 3 Luer 1986; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 3 COS 1991 photo fide; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing good; Orchids of Bolivia Vasquez & Ibisch Vol 1 2000 drawing good no hair on lip; Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4 2001 as Acianthera alpina; Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4 2001 as Acianthera sicaria; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 4 Dodson 2003 photo fide; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo hmm; Icones Pleurothallidianrum Vol XXVI Luer 2004 drawing fide; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005 as Acianthera sicaria photos ok? [mine have shorter, pilose lip]; Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Misas Urreta 2006 drawing/photo ok; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide as Acianthera sicaria; Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 5 Morales 2009 photo fide; Orquideas del Valle de Aburra Medellin Colombia Orqidelogia 2014 photo fide; Anales Jard. Bot. Madrid 75(1)e069: 13 2018 A taxonomic synopsis of Acianthera (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae) in Peru, including two new species Damian, Chiron and Mitidieri 2018 as Acianthera sicaria photo fide; Lankesteriana 19(1). 31-55 2019 as Acianthera sicaria photo fide; Pleurothallids Neotropical Jewels Vol 1 Karremans & Viera 2020 as Acianthera sicaria photo fide; Orquideas de Farallones de Cali Galindo-Tarazona, Haelterman, Zuluaga Trochez and Sebastian Moreno 2020 as Acianthera sicaria photo fide
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