Dracula trigonopetala Gary Mey. & Baquero

Doucette, Alfonso, 2012, Validation of Dracula trignopetala (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae) with an English diagnosis and description, Phytotaxa 74 (1), pp. 59-59 : 59

Dracula trigonopetala Gary Mey. & Baquero ex. A.Doucette, sp. nov.

Diagnosis: similar to Dracula radiosa (Rchb.f.) Luer, but distinguished by smaller flowers and a doubly alate lip.

Type: ⎯ ECUADOR. Pichincha: Quito, from material cultivated by Luis Baquero , April 2011, FLOARE 1887 (holotype: QCNE!) .

Epiphytic, caespitose herbs, 11–22 cm tall. Roots flexuous, 2 mm in diameter. Stem erect, sulcate, 1.6–2.0 cm long, enveloped by 2–3 sheaths, 0.5–3.5 cm long. Leaf erect, coriaceous, spathulate, apex acute, 10–20 cm long, 4–6 cm wide. Inflorescence a successively few flowered raceme; peduncles subverrucose, 10–12 cm long, enveloped by several bracts 2–4 mm long. Flower pedicellate; pedicel slender, verrucose, 3–5 mm long; sepals tan, connate to form a cup, suffused and speckled brown, contracted into purple tails, dorsal sepal 15 mm long, 18 mm wide, the tail of 1 –3 cm long, lateral sepals 16 mm long, 15 mm wide, connate at the base forming a shallow mentum, the apex contracted into a tail similar to that of the dorsal sepal; petals yellow marked with black, cartilaginous, oblong, bivalvate, 4 mm long, 3 mm wide; lip white, suffused with yellow and rose, divided into a hypochile and epichile, hypochile ovate with an alate margin, this cleft with a second pair of alae, 3 mm long and wide, epichile concave, round, deflexed on the hypochile, coursed by radiating, unbranched keels, 3 mm long, 6 mm wide; column yellow, suffused with purple, semiterete, 2 mm long, 1 mm wide, foot 2 mm long.