Stelis mystax is endemic to a small area of central Panama (around Santa Fe in the province of Veraguas ) from altitude 650-750m, but locally abundant (Luer 2007, p. 97-98). The species epithet, mystax, means a mustache in Latin (originally derived from ancient Greek) because the lateral sepals look like one. Stelis mystax was originally described under genus Pleurothallis by C.A. Luer, but it was moved to a monotypic genus, Mystacorchis , in 2001. Molecular phylogeny, based on nuclear ITS and chloroplast matK , shows that Stelis mystax is clustered with Dracontia (= previous Pleurothallis section Dracontia ) species used for the study, which include Stelis alta , S. carnosilabia , S. cobanensis , S. dracontea , S. gigantea , S. megachlamys , S. papillifera , Dracontia hydra , and D. lueriana , and two other unique species, S. carpinterae and S. convallaria (Karremans et al. 2013). Although the support isn't particularly strong, it appears to be clos
Plants, Orchids, and Life in North