Orchid Species: Lepanthes matamorosii

ORIGIN: Found in Costa Rica in the Talamanca mountain range in montane forests at elevations around 2750 meters.

DESCRIPTION: Mini-miniature sized, cold growing epiphyte with erect, slender ramicauls enveloped by 4 to 5, lepanthiform, glabrous sheaths with slightly dilated ostia and carrying an erect, coriaceous, narrowly vate, subacute, minutely emarginate, with a small abaxial apicule, contracted below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the spring on a loose, 2" [5 cm] long overall, peduncle to .8" [2 cm] long, terete, slender filiform, with a cylindric, obtuse, tightly adpressed, papyraceous bract below the middle, rachis to 1.2" [3 cm] long, successively single, to 3 flowered inflorescence with amplectent, acute, glabrous floral bracts and carrying a flower that is large for the genus. "The unusually large size of the flower, the long-tailed sepals, and the rhombic petals ending into long, sparsely hirsute tails, make this species unmistakable. The only other Lepanthes from the region of the Central American isthmus comparable in size with Lepanthes matamorosii is, outside the Lepanthes horrida group, Lepanthes grandiflora. As the specific epithet implies, the flowers of this species are among the largest in Central America, but they still are one third smaller than Lepanthes matamorosii; furthermore, Lepanthes grandiflora has bilobate petals with oblong, oblique lobes, and a distinctly bi-laminate lip." Pupulin & Bogarín.

FLOWER SIZE: 0.4 inches [1 cm] -- information provided by Jay Pfahl, author of the Internet Orchid Species Encyclopedia (IOSPE).

Most awarded/recent cultivars: Lths. matamorosii 'Elven Daggers' (2 awards in 2018)