STUDIES IN STELIS. IV. 
BY 
Oakes AMES 
Stelis pardipes Reichenbach filius Beitr. Orch. 
Centr.-Am. (1866) 96—Hemsl. in Gard. Chron. n.s. 12 
(1879) 108—Hemsl. in Godm. & Salv. Biol. Centr-Am. 
Bot. 8 (1883) 204—Pittier in Anal. Mus. Nac. Costa 
Rica 1 (1887) 73-—-Schltr. in Beihette Bot. Centralbl. 36, 
Abt. 2 (1918) 446; in Fedde Repert. Beihefte 19 (1923) 
EDy-3F 1s. £13: 
Stelis longicuspis Schlechter in Fedde Repert. 9 
(1910) 28; 10 (1912) 291, ¢n nota. 
Stelis Alberti Schlechter in Fedde Repert. Beihette 
19 (1928) 170. 
This species has appeared again and again in collec- 
tions made in Costa Rica, It is a very common species 
there, but is unknown elsewhere in Middle America, al- 
though it has been found in Peru. When Dr. Schlechter 
published his Stelts dongicuspis, he was unfamiliar with 
authentic material of Reichenbach’s S. pardipes. In 
Fedde Repertorium 10 (1912) 291 he reduced JS. /ongi- 
cuspis to synonymy. Later he published 8. Alberti, dis- 
tinguishing it from S. pardipes chiefly through the tubular 
bracts of the secondary stems being without the macula- 
tions that characterize typical S.pardipes.. In my opinion 
S. Alberti is simply a form of S.pardipes, agreeing with 
it in the structure of the flower. 
The accompanying illustration was made in_ part 
from a flower of Reichenbach’s type specimen and in 
part from Standley 50059, the figures at lower left and 
night having been drawn from a labellum and petal of 
Standley’s collection. In living specimens the petals and 
labellum are directed forward, their tips being more or 
less convergent, and the lateral sepals are more or less 
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