Lepanthes silverstonei is a medium-sized epiphytic orchid with slender roots and suberect to horizontal ramicauls 3–11 cm long, enclosed by 6–15 minutely ciliate lepanthiform sheaths with acuminate ostia. The single leaf is more or less horizontal, thinly coriaceous and shallowly sulcate between the longitudinal veins, frequently suffused with purple, ovate with an acute, long-acuminate apex, 4–9 cm long and 2–2.8 cm wide, narrowing at the base into a petiole about 1 mm long. The inflorescence is a congested, distichous, successively many-flowered raceme up to 8 mm or more long, borne on the upper surface of the leaf on a filiform peduncle 20–30 mm long; the floral bracts are 2 mm long, pedicels 2 mm, and ovary 3.5 mm long.

Following the synonymy proposed by Arias et al. (2025), the species is now understood to encompass two distinct floral morphs that co-occur within single individuals in at least some populations. The "silverstonei sensu stricto" morph, as originally described by Luer (2001), has green sepals suffused with purple and minutely ciliate, with a dorsal sepal 9 mm long and 3 mm wide that is ovate, acute and slightly acuminate; the lateral sepals are ovate and oblique, also 9 × 3 mm, connate for 2 mm. The petals are yellow, transversely bilobed and cellular-pubescent, 1 mm long and 10 mm wide, with a narrowly linear erect acute upper lobe 8 mm long and a much shorter narrowly triangular lower lobe. The lip is yellow, glabrous, bilaminate, with oblong blades 2.5 mm long and rounded ends, the body connate to the base of the column, the front surface of the sinus filled by a triangular pubescent membrane. The column is 2 mm long with a dorsal anther and ventral stigma.

The second morph — previously described as Lepanthes licrophora Luer & B.T.Larsen (2013) and now synonymised under L. silverstonei — differs principally in flower colour and shape: the sepals are flame-orange to yellow with sharp acuminate tips and deeply striped purple-and-cream reticulation on the outer surface, and the overall flower form is more compact with distinctly triangular outlines rather than the elongated forked dorsal sepal of the silverstonei-form morph. At Riosucio and El Cairo, Arias et al. (2025) documented that in many individual plants, flowers of both morphs occur on different inflorescences on the same ramicaul — typically with the licrophora-form morph on the lower leaf surface and the silverstonei-form morph on the upper leaf surface, though with occasional reversals. Fruit set was observed on both morph types, supporting the interpretation that they represent floral polymorphism within a single species rather than two species.

The morphological characters described here follow Luer (2001) for the silverstonei morph; Arias et al. (2025) formally established the synonymy of Lepanthes licrophora with L. silverstonei based on their observations of flower polymorphism at Riosucio (Caldas) and El Cairo (Valle del Cauca).

The published literature locates Lepanthes silverstonei (in its broader post-2025 sense) in cloud forest on the western and central cordilleras of the Colombian Andes, with field observations from Riosucio (Caldas) on the eastern slope of the Cordillera Occidental and from El Cairo (Valle del Cauca) on the Cordillera Occidental (Luer, 2001; Arias et al., 2025). The species is epiphytic on living trees in these localities, with the polymorphic flowering system being a characteristic observation.

In La Honda, L. silverstonei has been observed as a group of plants growing epiphytically on a fallen log in the forest interior at approximately 2,100 m. This is notable because colonisation of fallen wood (rather than standing trees) suggests the species is adapted to the dynamic light and humidity regimes that follow canopy gaps in mature cloud forest. Both flower morphs have been observed at this site — growing side by side on separate plants within the same group — though the within-plant polymorphism documented by Arias et al. at Riosucio and El Cairo has not yet been observed at La Honda.

Lepanthes silverstonei is endemic to Colombia, known from the Cordillera Occidental (Valle del Cauca) and the Cordillera Central (Caldas) (Luer, 2001; Arias et al., 2025; POWO, 2026). The species was described by Luer (2001) from material collected by Philip Silverstone-Sopkin of the Universidad del Valle. The post-2025 concept of the species, which includes what was formerly L. licrophora, broadens the documented geographic range by consolidating records from both cordilleras under a single name.

The La Honda record documents the species in the Cordillera Central on the eastern Antioquian slope — a new-locality record that extends the documented presence of the species. Both morphotypes have been observed at La Honda growing on the same fallen log, supporting the interpretation of Arias et al. (2025) that the two named taxa represent a single biological species across its range.

Flowering has been observed in La Honda, with both the silverstonei-form and licrophora-form morphs present in simultaneous flower. The available data do not support a reliable characterisation of the local phenology; systematic observation across a full annual cycle would be required. In the populations studied by Arias et al. (2025) at Riosucio and El Cairo, flowers of both morphs were present on many individuals simultaneously, with fruit set documented on both morph types.

Recognition of Lepanthes silverstonei now rests on a combination of vegetative and floral characters, complicated by the species' floral polymorphism. The vegetative plant — medium-sized caespitose epiphyte with ovate acute leaves 4–9 cm long, frequently suffused with purple, with 6–15 lepanthiform sheaths on the ramicauls — is broadly consistent across both morphs. The flowers must be recognized as belonging to one of two distinct morphotypes:

• "silverstonei-form" morph: long, narrowly triangular yellow sepals (9 mm long), the dorsal sepal bifurcating upward with the paired lateral sepals splaying outward and downward; lip yellow with a dark red-purple blotch; inflorescence typically on the upper leaf surface.

• "licrophora-form" morph: shorter, compact flame-orange to yellow sepals with deeply striped purple-and-cream outer reticulation; more triangular overall flower outline; inflorescence typically on the lower leaf surface.

The discovery that these two morphs represent a single species (Arias et al., 2025) means that field identification under the current taxonomy allows either morph to serve as evidence for the species' presence. Within its Colombian range, the species is distinguished from other Lepanthes by the combination of the purple-suffused ovate leaves, the long lepanthiform sheaths, and the presence of either or both flower morph types.

Lepanthes silverstonei has not been evaluated globally on the IUCN Red List (status NE, Not Evaluated, as of the date of this sheet). At the national regulatory level in Colombia, the species is not listed in Resolución 0126 de 2024 of the Ministry of Environment; it is therefore not classified as threatened under current Colombian environmental law.

"Not Evaluated" is not a statement that the species is safe — it is a statement that no formal assessment has been made. The species is known from a narrow geographic range in the Colombian Andes, from cloud forests of the central and western cordilleras, and has been the subject of a very recent taxonomic revision (Arias et al., 2025) that broadened the species concept and revised its documented distribution. Lepanthes silverstonei is a miniature orchid of a genus actively targeted by specialist collectors, which argues for conservative treatment regardless of its formal IUCN status.

For these reasons, the specific location within La Honda where L. silverstonei has been documented is not published, and elevation data are redacted from this sheet. Requests for further locality detail from researchers or conservation practitioners with a legitimate scientific or institutional purpose may be directed to [email protected].