Lepanthes spiculifera Thoerle & Hirtz, 2015

Thoerle, Lisa & Hirtz, Alexander C., 2015, Three new Lepanthes species (Pleurothallidinae, Orchidaceae) from Ecuador, Phytotaxa 201 (1), pp. 50-62 : 59-61

Lepanthes spiculifera Thoerle & Hirtz , sp. nov., Figs. 8 , 9 .

Type:— ECUADOR. Probably Zamora-Chinchipe: around Zamora, elev. 1000 m, flowered in cultivation by Mario Portilla at Ecuagenera, Gualaceo, Ecuador, November 2010, Hirtz 10310 (holotype: MO!), L. Thoerle illustr. 303.

Diagnosis: — Lepanthes spiculifera is similar to L. zettleri Foldats (1961: 261) , differing in an inflorescence with blunt-spiculate pedicels, bearing smaller flowers with blunt-spiculate sepals, densely pubescent petals, and a lip with long-ciliate margins.

Plant medium in size for the genus, presumably epiphytic, caespitose; roots slender. Ramicauls erect to suberect, 4.5–6 cm long, enclosed by 8–9 lepanthiform sheaths, ribs and dilated, acuminate ostia minutely spiculate. Leaf erect to nearly horizontal, thinly coriaceous, elliptical, apex triapiculate, 3–3.5 × 1 (dried)– 1.3 cm, the base cuneate into a petiole ca. 4 mm long. Inflorescence 1–3 suberect to more or less horizontal or arching with increasing length, loose, flexuous, successively single-flowered racemes with up to at least 20 flowers, to at least 13 cm long including the filiform peduncle 8–12 mm long, borne behind or in front of the leaf; floral bracts minutely verrucose, ostia dilated, minutely spiculate, acuminate, ca. 2 mm long; pedicels blunt-spiculate toward apex, 2–3 mm long, ca. 4 mm apart; ovary with ribs blunt-spiculate, 0.8 mm long; sepals yellow, dorsal with reddish suffusion more or less along the veins, externally carinate, the carinae with blunt spicules, the dorsal sepal with margins sparsely blunt-spiculate, minutely irregular, concave, ovate, acuminate, 3 × 1.6 mm, 3-veined, connate to the lateral sepals for 0.5 mm, the lateral sepals diverging, margins blunt-spiculate, narrowly ovate, oblique, acuminate, 3.25 × 1 mm, 1-veined, connate 1 mm; petals orange-brown, densely pubescent, transversely bilobed, 0.5 × 2 mm wide, connate above the base of the column, upper lobe larger, oblong, rounded, 1.25 mm long, lower lobe obliquely triangular, obtuse, 0.75 mm long; lip red, paler toward apex, pubescent with ciliate margins, cordate with weakly developed convex blades toward the base, absent toward the apex, 1.1 × 1 mm expanded, the narrowly rounded basal lobes embracing the column, attached with a claw to the base of the column, claw adnate to the column, appendix external, small, oblong, pubescent-ciliate; column reddish, 1.2 mm long, with the anther and stigma apical, anther cap and pollinia unknown.

Distribution: —Known only from the type collection.

Etymology: —From the Latin spicula, “small spike,” and - fer, “bearing,” for the spicules on most of the flowering parts.

Discussion: — Lepanthes spiculifera bears small, mostly yellow flowers appearing singly and sequentially on a gradually lengthening raceme that can eventually reach a length of 13 cm or more. The apex of the pedicel and the ribs of the ovary are blunt-spiculate; blunt-spiculate carinae mark the veins on the exterior of the sepals; the sparsely blunt-spiculate ovate dorsal sepal is concave; the single-veined lateral sepals are narrowly ovate-triangular with notably blunt-spiculate margins; the upper lobe of the pubescent petals is oblong, the lower lobe is obliquely, obtusely triangular; and the lip is pubescent with ciliate margins, cordate, with ill-defined blades embracing the column.

The Venezuelan Lepanthes zettleri ( Fig. 10 ), may be the most similar to L. spiculifera , with an elongated raceme bearing flowers of a superficially similar shape, with single-veined lateral sepals and a lip with weakly developed blades. Lepanthes zettleri lacks the unusual pedicels with a blunt-spiculate apex, and the larger flowers have sepals 4–5 mm long, with smooth margins; glabrous petals; and a subquadrate lip only shortly pubescent.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Lepanthes spiculifera. A. Habit. B. Flower with partial inflorescence. C. Dissected flower. D. Lip and column, dorsal view. E. Lip expanded. F. Ovary, lip, and column, profile. Drawn by L. Thoerle from the holotype, Hirtz 10310 (MO).

FIGURE 9. Lepanthes spiculifera. Flower and buds from a cultivated plant. Photographed by A. Hirtz from the plant that provided the holotype specimen.

FIGURE 10. Lepanthes zettleri. Drawn by G.C.K. Dunsterville, from Dunsterville 1098. Reprinted with the kind permission of the Orchid Herbarium of Oakes Ames, Harvard University Herbaria.