Pleurothallis saurocephala Lodd. 1833 SUBGENUS Acianthera SECTION Brachystachyae Lindl. 1859
Photo by © Lourens Grobler
Photo by © Luiz Filipe Varella
Photo by Patricia Harding
Photo by © Ishmael Nilton Vischi.
Common Name The Lizard Head Pleurothallis
Flower Size .4" [1 cm]
Found in Brazil in primary cloud forests at elevations of 500 to 1300 meters as a small to medium sized, warm to cool growing epiphyte with erect, basally thickened, apically furrowed ramicauls enveloped by 3 loose, tubular sheaths and carrying an erect, stiff, elliptic, narrowly elongate, conduplicate, petiolate base leaf that blooms in the spring on a descending, 3.2 to 6" [8 to 15 cm] long, 12 to 18 flowered inflorescence arising through a spathe at the base of the leaf.
Synonyms Acianthera saurocephala (Lodd.) Pridgeon & M.W. Chase 2001; Humboldtia saurocephala (Lodd.) Kuntze 1891
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Orchidaceae Brasilensis Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 drawing ok; Systematics of Pleurothallis Vol 3 Luer 1986; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; Orchids of Brazil McQueen 1993 photo good; Lindleyana Vol 16 No 4 2001 as Acianthera saurocephala; The Organ Mountain Range Its History and Its Orchids Miller, Warren, Miller and Seehawer 2008 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #3 2016 as P sarcocephalus drawing fide; Pleurothallids Neotropical Jewels Vol 1 Karremans & Viera 2020 as Acianthera saurocephala photo fide
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