DRESSLER Stellilabium erratum


subacute; lateral sepals 3-4 x 1.6-2 mm, obliquely
ovate, obtuse, apiculate; petals 3.3-3.5 x 0.9-1.1
mm, narrowly elliptic-oblong, subacute, margins
ciliate; lip 3-3.5 x 3-3.3 mm, 3-lobed, lateral lobes
1.3-2.5 x 0.4-0.5 mm, lanceolate, fleshy, papillose,
midlobe 2.5-3 x 1.5-2.5 mm, ovate-triangular,
acuminate, thickened in middle, puberulent-papil-
lose; column 3-lobed, lateral lobes 1.3-1.5 x 0.4-0.8
mm, oblong, flattened, the dorsal margins with
dense band of stellate bristles ca. 0.7 mm long,
midlobe rounded, ca. 1.5 mm, bristles simple, ca.
0.4 mm; capsule ovoid, ca. 7 x 3 mm, including
beak ca. 1.5 mm, fruiting pedicel ca. 3 mm.

 Among Central American species of
Stellilabium, S. erratum is distinguished by its large
size (for a Stellilabium), by the deeply 3-lobed lip
and the deeply 3-lobed column. The 3-lobed
column would suggest its placement in
Dipterostele, according to Garay and Romero
(1998), but none of the species described from
South America has the flattened, tapeworm-like
rachis of the Central American complex. The
section Taeniorhachis has been proposed for the
Central American group (Dressler 1999). The
available samples of DNA are very few (one
species each of Dipterostele in the strict sense,
Stellilabium in the strict sense and Taeniorhachis),
but the analysis does suggest that the three may be
distinct groups (N. H. Williams, pers. comm.)


Further and better samples, though, may well show
that all three are subgroups of Telipogon in the
broad sense. The epithet erratum, or error, refers to
the improbable series of errors that started when we
first saw the plant by the Rio Pejibaye.

PARATYPES: Same locality as type, 1200 m, 9 apr.
2000, F. Pupulin, L. Spadari y Curso de
Orquideologia 2266 (USJ). "Taos," altura aprox.
1000 m, 11 dic. 1984, por el borde entire selva y
potrero, R. L. Dressler y Biologia 350 no. 310
(USJ). La Selva. Valle del Rio Pejibaye, elev.
aprox. 1000 m, 18 marzo 1991, epifita, cerca del
rio, flores morado-rojo, R. L. Dressler y D. E. Mora
de Retana 6136 (USJ).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I am very much indebted to
the late Dora Emilia Mora, for helping me to reach
this and many other interesting localities, and
Franco Pupulin for the excellent drawing.



CITED LITERATURE
Dresser, R. L. 1993. Field guide to the orchids of
 Costa Rica and Panama. Ithaca, Cornell University
 Press.
Dresser, R. L. 1999. A reconsideration of Stellilabium
 and Dipterostele. Harvard Pap. Bot. 4: 469-473.
Garay, L. A., & G. A. Romero-Gonzalez. 1998.
 Schedulae Orchidum. Harvard Pap. Bot. 3: 53-62.


Octubre 2001