Pelexia adnata

(Swartz) Sprengel

Syst. Veg. 3: 704. 1826.

Common names: Hachuela
Illustrated
Basionym: Satyrium adnatum Swartz Prodr., 118. 1788
Synonyms: Neottia adnata (Swartz) Swartz Spiranthes adnata (Swartz) Bentham ex Fawcett
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 26. Treatment on page 527.

Plants cespitose, to 70 cm. Roots 3–8 mm diam. Leaves 2–7, erect; petiole 12–16.5 cm; blade elliptic to lanceolate, 7.5–14 × 3–5.5 cm, margins entire, apex acuminate. Inflorescences scapose racemes, pubescent; floral bracts linear-lanceolate, as long as flower or longer, apex acuminate. Flowers: dorsal sepal green, broadly ovate to elliptic, 5–6 × 3–4 mm, apex obtuse, pubescent; sepals gently recurved, narrowly elliptic, 5–6 × 1.5 mm, apex obtuse, pubescent; lateral sepals adnate to column foot forming spurlike mentum, mentum adnate to ovary, only partially free near tip, 6–7 mm; petals green, linear to linear-oblanceolate, 5 mm, apex obtuse, glabrous; lip white with yellowish throat, constricted at or distal to middle; apical half abruptly geniculate, fleshy, 5–6 mm, tip recurved, glabrous; column to 6 mm, column foot produced basally, decurrent along ovary, to 7 mm; viscidium ovate; pedicellate ovary erect-spreading, 10–11 mm, pubescent. Capules ellipsoid, 12–17 mm.


Phenology: Flowering Mar–May.
Habitat: Understory of moist, hardwood hammocks
Elevation: 0–20 m

Distribution

V26 1074-distribution-map.jpg

Fla., Mexico, West Indies, Central America, n South America.

Discussion

Phenology is based on observations in the Greater Antilles.

Plants of Pelexia adnata formerly found in a tropical hardwood hammock in Florida have not been seen recently and are probably extirpated (Edwin Bridges, pers. comm.).

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.