Specklinia alexii (A.H.Heller) Pridgeon & Chase (2001: 256)

Karremans, Adam, Salguero, Grettel, Bogarín, Diego, Oses, Lizbeth & Cedeño-Fonseca, Marco, 2020, Illustrations and studies in Neotropical Orchidaceae: the Specklinia brighamii group (Pleurothallidinae) in Costa Rica, Phytotaxa 447 (1), pp. 16-30 : 19-20

2. Specklinia alexii (A.H.Heller) Pridgeon & Chase (2001: 256) . ( Fig. 2 )

Basionym: Pleurothallis alexii Heller (1966: 8–9) .

Type:— NICARAGUA. Matagalpa: Cerro Matapalo, Tuma Grande , elev. ca. 3,200 ft., July 1965, Heller 8631 (holotype: F; isotype: AMES) .

Epiphytic, caespitose, erect herbs, to 9 cm tall including the inflorescence. Roots flexuous. Rhizome extremely abbreviated, ramicauls erect, 5–8 mm long, enclosed by thin tubular sheaths. Leaves erect, spatulate to oblanceolate, conduplicate, apex acute, slightly oblique, emarginate, with a short apicule, 4.5–8.5 × 1.0–2.0 cm, including an indistinct petiole. Inflorescence racemose, distichous, glabrous, erect, successively single-flowered, up to 8 cm long, born by a filiform peduncle, to 7 cm long, the rachis congested, sub-fasciculate. Floral bracts tubular, to 3 mm long. Pedicels cylindric, to 4 mm long, purple, turning papery with age. Ovary purple, cylindric, 2 mm long. Flowers with all 3 apices converging but not fused, translucent white, heavily suffused with purple, glabrous, weakly carinate, petals fully purple, lip creamy white marked with purple on lobes and apex, column green, suffused with reddish purple. Dorsal sepal lanceolate, acute, margins minutely glandular, 3-veined, 11.0 × 3.5 mm. Lateral sepals lanceolate, acute, 3-veined, connate to above the middle into and oblong-ovate, concave synsepal, 11.0 × 3.5 mm. Petals elliptic, oblique, acute, with the labellar margin glabrous, 3.5 × 1.8 mm. Lip oblong-obovate, trilobed, hinged to the column foot, the apex rounded, with microscopically cellular-denticulate margin, base truncate, 3.0 × 1.0 mm. Column cylindrical, 3.0 mm long, with winged projection above the middle and margins minutely denticulate apically, with a 2 mm long column foot at the base. Anther cap incumbent, cucullate, stigma ventral. Pollinia two, ovoid, flattened, hooked towards the base, lacking accessory structures.

Distribution:— Known only from Nicaragua and northern Costa Rica.

Habitat and ecology:— Epiphytic in wet tropical forest, secondary and primary vegetation, around 50–1000 m elevation.

Phenology:— Flowering September–October.

Etymology:— Honouring Alex Drum Hawkes (1927–1977), close friend and collaborator of Alphonse Henry Heller. Together they discovered and described many Central American orchid species, often dedicated to each other ( Ossenbach 2009).

Material examined:— COSTA RICA. Alajuela: Los Chiles, El Amparo , 10°50’56” N 84°35’21” W, 57 m, en Naranjales abandonados, en cultivo de Gerardo Bermúdez, 30 Sept 2017, Karremans 8105 (JBL-spirit) . NICARAGUA. Without location, collected by Fred Fuchs, Jr., flowered in cultivation, 24 Oct 1980, Luer 5593 ( SEL; illustration in Luer, 2006, Fig. 157) .

Note:— Distinguished from the other species treated here by the large sepals that are apically connivent. The wiry inflorescence is subequal to the leaves, the purplish flowers are drooping and the sub-spatulate lip is small in relation to the sepals.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Specklinia alexii (A.H.Heller) Pridgeon & M.W.Chase.A. Habit. B. Flower. C. Dissected perianth. D. Column and lip, lateral view. E. Lip and petal. F. Column lateral and ventral view. F. Anther cap and pollinarium. Lankester Composite Dissection Plate (LCDP) by Karremans and Oses based on Karremans 8105.