In my mind this is always going to be a Muscarella, but Kew want to call it Specklinia, so I guess I will fall in line. At least for the title of this post. It is a miniature epiphyte from Mexico to Central America, found at altutudes ranging from 180 to 1 380 meters. So is actually a warm to intermediate grower that I am growing cool, but it seems to be doing alright with that too. It is a very small plant, the leaves measure only about 3 cm long. It produces a rather thin and long (50 mm), successively single flowered, inflorescence with a small (5-7 mm) flower dangling at the end like a tiny butterfly. Hince its rather apt common name “the winged Pleurothallis“. It started blooming sometime this winter, I think I missed it for a long time because it is so small, and it is still going. I grow it mounted on cork in the cool vivarium, humid wet and breezy under medium light.
Accepted Name: Specklinia alata (A.Rich. & Galeotti) Solano & Soto Arenas, Icon. Orchid. 5-6: x (2002 publ. 2003).
Synonyms: Specklinia hastata (Ames) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase, Lindleyana 16: 258 (2001). Muscarella marginata (Rich.) Luer, Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 105: 111 (2006).
Exquisite detail!
Thank you Jacob! And such exquisite details there are! 😉
My name is Jay Pfahl,
. I write http://www.orchidspecies.com an international effort to have photos and information on all the world’s orchids. To date there are about 20,350 species represented in 855 genera with many being in situ shots. The site is non commercial and no plants are bought sold or traded. The site is free for all to use. Orchid references are rare where orchids occur most frequently and so the Encyclopedia serves thousands within the tropics with a good reference for the orchids in their areas. I respectfully ask for your help in allowing my use of your fabulous photos of P alata and often misidentified orchid. Would you be interested? Full credit to you the photographer and a link to your website . Please get back to me if you are or if you are not interested in helping
Jay
Hello Jay! I often use your site as a reference and I am of course happy to contribute with photos. So please feel free. Thank you for your generous and hard work! 🙂