Leptotes

Epidendreae subtribe Laeliinae

Caespitose to somewhat trailing epiphytes. Pseudobulbs terete, cylindric, short. Leaves one, semiterete, fleshy-rigid, with a central groove. Inflorescences terminal, one to few-flowered laxly pendent racemes. Flowers cupped. Sepals and petals subsimilar, subequal, free, spreading. Lip three-lobed, without callus or with low keels. Column short, with the clinandrial margin membranaceous; pollinia 6, four large and two small, sessile on a common minute viscidium.

A genus of about 11 species native to Brazil and Paraguay.

1 Midlobe of lip longer than broad. 2 1' Midlobe of lip suborbicular to transverse, as long as broad or broader than long. 4 2(1) Sepals and petals white; lateral lobes of the lip obtuse, incurved. 3 2' Sepals and petals pale pink; lateral lobes of the lip acute, erect. L. unicolor 3(2) Lateral lobes of the lip entire. L. bicolor 3' Lateral lobes of the lip with finely toothed margins. L. serrulata 4(1') Lateral lobes of the lip with finely toothed margins; the midlobe wider than long. L. pauloensis 4' Lateral lobes of the lip with smooth margins; the midlobe as wide as long (suborbicular). 5 5(4') Callus keels subsimilar, of three very low ridge-like keels. L. minuta 5' Callus keels dissimilar, of a pair of high keels separated by a very low central keel. L. tenuis

Krackowizer, F. J. 1954. Monografia do Gênero Leptotes. Revista Circulo Paulista de Orquidófilos 11(3):43-72