This small sized epiphyte hails from northern Peru and southeast Ecuador where it grows at altitudes of 1500 to 2000 meters. The name, Masdevallia lilacina, is supposed to reflect the lilac color of the flowers, and I must say that I was actually a smidge disappointed when mine turned out more cream and green than lilac…! Oh, don’t get me wrong. I love green flowers almost above all, but I was expecting them to be beautifully sheer lilac… me… purple girl… Oh well, I still love the elegant shape for the flowers with the graceful sepaline tails. This is the first time it blooms for me and I got 5 flowers for starters. Perhaps next time the color will be more true – if it even is a lilacina at all… The species is pretty similar to Masdevallia roseola but not as strikingly colored and no scent. If it turns out anything like my amazing M. roseola I will be very pleased – be it green or not.
Edit: Looks like we might have a correction on the ID… it looks a lot more like Masdevallia pumila than it does lilacina. Thanks Ron!
Well, if nothing else, you have a lovely alba. Possibly not what you wanted when looking for lilac flowers but worthy a place in your collection as you say.
Thanks Bill! Yes, I will love it despite its shortcomings… I was googling about an alba or flava form of this species when the flowers first opened but did not find any… but it may very well be – it sure isn’t lilac! 😉
Are you sure this is lilacina? It looks a lot like pumila to me.
No, I am absolutely not sure this is a lilacina – but that is what it says on the tag from Ecuagenera. 😉 But as soon as it bloomed I knew something was up of course. I thought it might be an alba form or something, but cannot find any record of such even existing. I think you might have nailed it though, it looks A LOT like a pumila to me. Very nice. Thanks!! 🙂
I wouldn’t like to say. Only closer examination of the petals and sheaths would give a confident ID. If you were to go on “gut feelings” I would side with M. lilacina by the photograph. Gut feelings can be wrong of course. I would be interested in your reasons for M. pumila and not M. lilacina. Not in an argumentative way, just interested.
Bill.
Bring it on Bill, I welcome the debate! 🙂 Especially since I must admit that I am not all that confident in my own abilities to make a positive ID… I definitely need more experience with the genus. I am more or less basing my own “gut feeling” on the photo of Ron’s M. pumila listed on IOSPE. To my eye, they are extremely similar… I can try and get some better photos of the petals and sheaths on my plant to aid in the discussion if you like?
I’d be interested if you can. Sometimes we get these plants that really cause confusion, even more so when you get one that doesn’t conform in colour.
Bill.
Thanks Bill!! I will have to work harder on getting a good close up on the petals… I did not manage too good today… but here are a couple of pictures of the plant, perhaps that will help a little?
I’ve been away from Pleuros far to long 🙂 Looking at the pictures and all those I can find on the Internet, also my untrustworthy memory 🙂
The ovary and the flower sheath appear too dark for M. pumila. This could be a trick of light. I would expect M. pumila ovary and flower sheath to be a clear green.
I’m not trying to pass myself off as an expert in this genus, just someone else trying to get his head around this tricky genus, so I’m always open to correction, it’s how we continue to learn.
The petals, if it’s M. lilacina, should have a wing-like callus if you can check them out with a magnifying glass. I would discount colour to start with as I always do when trying to indentify. I mean discount it as an identifying criteria as this can be so variable. The main difficulty is probably needing one of each to compare.
Bill.
Hello again… the color is hard to replicate perfectly, but these two are pretty darn close (I was a bit sloppy with the last two, sorry). You might be a little rusty on ID’ing Pleuros, but I really feel a novice comparing lilacina and pumila. But, at least I managed to get a decent petal photo today, sooo… what do you think Bill? 🙂
That’s easier on my old tired eyes 🙂 I think we have to go for M. pumila. Those petals are too well developed for M. lilacina. Tell them you want a lilacina now for free 🙂
Bill.
Thanks a lot Bill!! We will go with M pumila then. Nice to settle on a species! I should talk to Ecuagenera about a real lilacina, I think they are coming to the Sofiero orchid show in May. Funny you would mention your old tired eyes… the reason I can take much better macros now (like these two) is because I got new reading (and yes, photography) glasses this week. Funny what a difference actually “seeing” what I am doing makes. 😉