Pleurothallis melanostele Luer & R.Vásquez 1981 SUBGENUS Pseudostelis

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

Common Name or Meaning The Black Column Pleurothallis

Flower Size .08" [2 mm]

Found in La Paz departemnt of Bolivia at elevations around 2550 to 2800 meters as a mini-miniature to miniature sized, cold growing, caespitose epiphyte with erect, stout, broadly expanded towards the apex, sharply winged ramicauls enveloped at the base by 2 to 3 sheaths and carrying a single, erect, coriaceous, elliptical, acute, margins of the sessile base continuous with the sharply winged apex of the ramicaul that blooms in the spring on a .4" [1 cm] long, simultaneously few flowered inflorescence arising through a spathe and has an infundibular floral bract.

"Distinguished by the obtuse and single veined sepals, the laterals connate only basally. The petals are transluscent and obtuse. The lip is thick, concave and obscurely lobed below the middle. The stout column and anther are conspicuous and purple black." Luer 1999

Synonyms Acianthera melanoglossa (Luer & R.Escobar) Luer 2004; Stelis melanostele (Luer & R.Vásquez) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase 2001

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Orquideología 20: 74. Luer 1996 drawing fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XVIII Systematics of Pleurothallis subsection Antenniferae, Longiracemosae, Macrophyllae-Racemosae and Subgenera Pseudsostelis and Acuminata Luer 1999 drawing fide; Orchids of Bolivia Vol 1 Pleurothallidinae Vasquez & Ibisch 2000 drawing fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVI Luer 2004 drawing fide; Icones Pleurothallidinarum Vol XXVI Luer 2004 as Acianthera melanoglossa

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