Need to ID this pleurothallid

[Mantellaprince20]

I purchased this plant off ebay as P. chamensis, but clearly it is not chamensis. Anyone have any idea's? I love the plant, one of my favorites.




Thanks!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Trichosalpinx rotundata?

Not sure about the species name, but it's for certain a Trichosalpinx sp.

Not a bad deal.

The person may have wanted to swindle you, or simply made an honest mistake, but I think this is a better plant than the Pleurothallis chamensis.

Plths chamensis doesn't bloom as often as this plant does.

The flowers are smaller than Plths chamensis, but they're also much more colorful.

Blooms from the underside of the leaf. If you look closely at your pic, you can see the dried up inflorescences of the previously bloomed flowers.

It's also rarer in the trade than Plths chamensis.

I think you lucked out.

[ronaldhanko]

Am I missing something? I see no flowers. Pretty hard to identify even the genus without flowers.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I can rule out Lepanthes or Lepanthopsis because it doesn't have the distinct lepanthiform sheaths on the stem.

Most Restrepias don't have circular leaves.

It's not Restrepiopsis. I own a tiny division of Restriopsis inaequalis. I had Restrepiopsis pandurata. I also had Restrepiopsis microptera. Restrepiopsis norae looks nothing like this either.

It's not Restrepiella. I used to have one of these too.

Restrepia, Restrepiopsis, and Restrepiella have distinct bracts on the stem.

Trisetellas are mostly micro-minis with succulent leaves.

Scaphs don't grow like this either. Neither do they bloom from underneath the leaves.

Porroglossums don't bloom from underneath the leaves. And new leaves on Porroglossums have a distinct vein pattern like that of Jewel Orchids.

I can definitely rule out Masdevallia and it's many subdivisions. The flowers bloom from underneath the leaf on short inflorescences on the plant in the pic. I don't know any Masdevallia that blooms like this as of yet.

Not Myoxanthus or Octomeria because of leaf shape (both genera have species with leaves that are usually narrow and long).

Platysteles are usually much smaller plants.

Dryadellas and Barbosellas are usually micro-minis with long, narrow, grass-like leaves.

Draculas don't look like this.

Doesn't look like Stelis either, because of the leaf shape, and the way it blooms.

That leaves Pleurothallis and it's many subdivisions, and Trichosalpinx.

I lean towards Trichosalpinx - most likely rotundata, but not sure about the species.

If it's a Pleurothallis or one of the genera within it's many subdivisions, I sure don't recognize it.

Plths chamensis doesn't have round leaves like that, the leaves for Plths chamensis are shaped like an arrowhead with the flowers laying on top in a short chain. It's for certain not Plths chamensis.

I used to own a Trichosalpinx rotundata, it looks just like the plant in the pic.

Only with flowers can the true species be determined.

[Mantellaprince20]

Thanks so much for the help, i hadn't even thought trichosalpinx, but I do believe you have the correct genus. Trich rotundata is much smaller than this plant from what I have read though. The leaves on this are about 3" at their longest, and the stems are about 4-5". might be Trich orbicularis, I will have to wait for it to flower for pics of them . It is a gorgeous plant, and I do agree, I totally lucked out over P chamensis

[lepanthes89]

Originally Posted by ronaldhanko

Am I missing something? I see no flowers. Pretty hard to identify even the genus without flowers.

I agree. Good guess,but need to see flowers to be reasonably sure.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Trichosalpinx orbiculata is the second guess.

We'll see when it blooms. Shouldn't be too long.

Bust out the macro lens.

Should I be completely off base, try looking up Zootrophion (although, it's most likely not, because Zootrophions have flatter leaves, not dome shaped leaves), maybe Plths tarantula (not likely because the leaves of your plant is domed, Plths tarantula has much larger leaves and are much flatter).

[SOS]

Orbiculata has lepanthiform bracts though, right?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by SOS

Orbiculata has lepanthiform bracts though, right?

I actually missed that all Trichosalpinx spp. do. Bracts may have been removed, idk.

If the bracts were not removed - then I've never seen anything like this.

Or...

Rather I should say, if it's not Trichosalpinx, I've never seen anything like this.

Lepanthopsis is out. Inflorescences are too long on Lpths.

Lepanthes caprimulgus is out. Leaves on Lths caprimulgus are round but they're much smaller and flatter. Inflorescence is too long and pendulous.

Lths mulleriana leaves may be round, but they're much smaller, and flat. Inflorescence is too long, it extends past the leaves. Out.

Most Lepanthes spp. have flowers that are produced on inflorescences that are able to repeat bloom, and when they do, they have that hair brush, stepped appearance even when they're dry.

Again, with Lths the leaves are usually flat.

The domed leaves are too pronounced for Zootrophion spp. I don't recall even when the leaves curled, for them to look like the ones in the pics here. When the leaves curled, they were normally uneven, and not quite as pronounced.

Same goes for Plths tarantula for the leaves. The inflorescence on Plths tarantula are also fairly long because they normally produce more than 1 flower per spike, and can extend up to 1/2 to 3/4 of the length of the leaves.

[Mantellaprince20]

Here are some closer pictures of the ?sheath and ?bract (i'm not the best with the terminology). The bract is a modified leaf where the inflorescences come out, right? A sheath is just a modified leaf on the stem? Anyway, if that is so, it has one of each. I'm not sure what a lepanthiforme bract is. The ?bract sits maybe 2 mm before the stem attaches to the base of the leaf, and the ?sheath sits maybe an inch or so from the bract.







I really appreciate all the help. Based on the sheath and bract, I would think the genus Pleurothallis is ruled out, none of my Pleuro's have any of these features on the stem like this.