Stelis rostratissima

[naoki]

I got this plant from Ecuagenera in spring 2017. It is superficially similar to S. cypripedioides, which also has the "slipper". So I read a little bit about these two species, and put what I learned in my Orchid Borealis blog post (link). I'm not completely sure whether the white haired ones, which is frequently called S. cypripedioides, is a color variation (this species is supposed to have bright purple hairs) or a miss-ID.

If you are interested in inside of the slipper, I put quite a few photos of dissected flower in the blog post. It has a hinged lip.


Stelis trichostoma on Flickr


Stelis trichostoma (plant) on Flickr

 

[Ozpaph]

you have some intriguing plants

 

[blondie]

Very nice

 

[SlipperFan]

That sure is fuzzy! Is this one of the so-called toilet bowl orchids?

 

[abax]

If I was a pollinator, I'd find this flower utterly fascinating.
It has that come hither look.

 

[naoki]

That sure is fuzzy! Is this one of the so-called toilet bowl orchids?

Yes, the flowers look like tiny toilet bowls! Stelis pilosa (=Pleurothallis amparoana, IOSPE) looks most toilet-bowlish because it is pale. Stelis cypripedioides (IOSPE) has a deeper bowl than S. trichostoma, so it is also closer to the toilet bowl.

 

[Mark Karayannis]

Interesting species

 

[Secundino]

Lovely!

 

[NYEric]

These are Stelis now?! Thank you Mr. Leur.

 

[naoki]

These are Stelis now?! Thank you Mr. Leur.

Luer doesn't like the giant group Stelis. He would put it in Effusiella, I think (I haven't confirmed this). We currently don't have enough data to divide giant Stelis into smaller genera, so many people are taking the position that lumping them together is a safer/easier route at this moment. With more data, it could change into more manageable divisions.

Here is a recent overview:

Karremans, A.P., 2016. Genera Pleurothallidinarum: an updated phylogenetic overview of Pleurothallidinae. Lankesteriana, 16(2), pp.219-241. (Link to abstract, but I think full PDF is available from the link in there).

Here is one more focused on broader sense Stelis:
Karremans, A.P., Bakker, F.T., Pupulin, F., Solano-Gómez, R. and Smulders, M.J., 2013. Phylogenetics of Stelis and closely related genera (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae). Plant Systematics and Evolution, 299(1), pp.151-176. (PDF, I think this is available to anyone).

 

[naoki]

Jay Pfahl kindly told me the correct ID of this plant. It is actually Stelis rostratissima, and not S. trichostoma. I updated the blog page.

 

[NYEric]

Thanks for the update. I need to up my Pleuro game, and to contribute to IOSPE again.