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Laelia kettieana
Another of the very small species of rupiculous laelias, Laelia
kettieana occur in fairly large quantities on the habitat. But although
the species in not rare in its habitat, the distribution area itself seems to be quite limited. So far, Laelia kettieana has only been confirmed from
the Serra do Caraça, where plants can be found from 1500 to 2000 meters elevation, some 5000 to near 7000
ft. The species is closely related to Laelia reginae,
but has slightly larger flowers with different coloration and lip shape and keels. Laelia
reginae is native from the Serra da Moeda, and thus the two species are
quite far apart. Interestingly, there has been a bit of confusion between the two because of wrong habitat information.
By their descriptions, Laelia kettieana
comes from the Serra da Moeda and L. reginae
from the Caraça. Until the switch was clarified, people were having a hard time figuring out which was which.
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Distribution Map for Laelia kettieana. The species has a fairly restrict distribution area, centered around the Serra do Caraça.
This is one of the highest elevation rupiculous laelias, and only occurs on the nearby mountains if above 1500
meters above sea level.
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On 1,
we see the typical way plants of Laelia kettieana
are found in their habitat at the Serra do Caraça. The plants have the rhizomes and lower parts of the pseudobulbs
protected by cracks on the rock, some soil and/or lichens or small herbs. This gives protection to the areas that
will originate new growths and this is mostly the rule for all the rupiculous laelias, certainly all the small
ones. Flowers are produced up to 5 on a spike and are up to 1" across.
On 2, we see a close-up of flowers
of Laelia kettieana. The red-purple
margin of the lip frontlobe is very distinctive for the species (although in some cases it is almost absent), as
is the sparkling texture of the segments. |
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