I purchased this plant as Lepanthes pilosella ( Neooreophilus pilosellum ) from OrquÃdeas del Valle . But it turned out to be Lepanthes platysepala, instead. L. platysepala was originally described by Luer and Escobar in 1994 ( link to the original illustration , Luer 1994). It belongs to subgenus Brachycladium which contains about 38 species (Archila and Higgins 2008). The subgenus is characterized by the pendulous growth habit, short ramicaulis, and petals not lobed. In the past, this subgenus was proposed to be separated to genus Brachycladium (Luer 2005), Oreophilus (Archila and Higgins 2008) or Neooreophilus . This species is frequently confused with L. pilosella , and the original description (Luer 1994, link ) mentioned the differences between the two species: L. pilosella : concave, stripped dorsal sepal, L. platysepala : flatter and more open dorsal sepal with dots. It is interesting that in some photos of L....
Plants, Orchids, and Life in North