Stelis sp.

I purchased this one early last summer and it came to me as a small mounted plant from Ecuagenera with 11 leaves, labelled as Stelis patens. It seems to be liking the conditions provided by my cylindrical vivarium, as it now has over 20 leaves! I was very happy to see it putting out some spikes a few weeks back, but the blooms are proving difficult to photograph; the blooms seem to only open up during the night and at the first sign of light they begin to close up. I have to lift the cylinder off of the vivarium it is in to take photos, which significantly drops the humidity in a short period of time - this also affects the blooms. Within less than 8 minutes of taking it out of the enclosure they are fully closed up. I found myself waking up early in the morning and using a flashlight to assist in focusing to get a few decent shots of this little guy. I finally ended up cutting off the first spike it sent out so I could get the photos you see here. It is currently sending out two more spikes, though. The plant itself has leaves that are no larger than about 1" (~2.5cm) tall, though most of them are slightly under that.

I can't find much info on S. patens online, but it doesn't seem to resemble the photos I've seen while searching.









Closing…




Almost closed…

 

Actually, now that I think about it, it probably doesn't have anything to do with the lights at all. The circulation fan that I have in the tank is on the same timer as the lights, so the humidity most likely drops shortly after the lights turn on…

I'm trying to remember how many were on the spike that I cut off… There were three open and then I think at least two more buds - so, probably at least five but maybe even one or two more than that; I'll have to check on the new spikes in the morning to make sure, though. The spike is much longer than the leaves - at least 2-2.5x longer. The flowers are spaced widely on the spike.

That's what I have been seeing in the photos of that species, while searching - certainly much different than what I have.

Thanks for searching, William. Let me know if you find it, or something similar!

 

Okay, here are some measurements. The leaf details are approximate, but should be close. I feel that the flower measurements are quite accurate, as I just tried this with a S. morganii flower and those measurements were dead on (no open buds on the Stelis species in question at the moment). One of the new spikes looks like it will have about seven buds that I can make out so far; once that spike begins to mature I can take additional photos if needed.

Overall Leaf Height (of largest leaf): ~42mm
Leaf Width: ~6.5mm
Ramicaul Height: ~19mm
Flower Spike Length: ~80mm
Flower Size: see photo

 

No, as far as I can tell, the lip appears to be completely rounded with no tip.

Can you tell from this view?

 

When you say "veined petals" are you referring to the striations visible on the petals, or something else? If it's the former, it would appear that the petals on my Stelis have three veins each. All of the photos I have seen of S. hallii appear to have five veins - though, I can't seem to find an illustration online of this species - so, I'm not quite sure if that's what you are referring to.

Is the floral bract the small sheath at the base of the pedicel? If so, the floral bract is certainly shorter than the pedicel.

I have an old microscope that I may be able to use for dissection, but if that fails I may take you up on your offer and send you a spike from my plant. I really appreciate you taking the time to look through the key for an identification for me - thank you!