Cranichis cylindrostachys Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 59. 1920.

Kolanowska, Marta, Baranow, Przemyslaw, Nowak, Slawomir & Fuentes, Alfredo, 2021, Materials to the revision of the genus Cranichis (Orchidaceae) in Bolivia, PhytoKeys 186, pp. 11-41 : 11

5. Cranichis cylindrostachys Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 59. 1920.

Type.

COLOMBIA. Madero 14 (B†, lectotype, designated by Garay (1978: 199): AMES!-drawing).

Diagnosis.

Plants 26-29 cm tall. Leaves 2-3, basal, petiolate; petiole 3-8 cm long, narrow, canaliculate; blade 2-6 cm long, 1.6-4 cm wide, ovate, acute, base obliquely cordate to cuneate. Scape glabrous, remotely 4-5-sheathed. Inflorescence 5-12 cm long, cylindrical, subdensely many-flowered. Flowers small, glabrous. Floral bracts 3.8 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous. Pedicellate ovary 5.5 mm long, glabrous. Dorsal sepal 3 mm long, 1.3 mm wide, ovate-lanceolate, subobtuse, 1-veined. Petals 3.1 mm long, 0.7 mm wide, obliquely lanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, subobtuse, glabrous on margins, 1-veined. Lateral sepals 3.6 mm long, 2.1 mm wide, obliquely elliptic-ovate, slightly concave at base, obtuse, 2-veined. Lip 3.1 mm long, 2 mm wide, somewhat concave, subsessile, oblong-elliptical, shortly apiculate; disc with 3 thickened, dendritic branching veins with prominent nodules. Gynostemium 1.8 mm long. Fig. 7 .

Habitat and ecology.

Terrestrial in Yungas montane secondary forest at an altitude of 1980 m. Flowers in March.

Representative specimen.

BOLIVIA. La Paz: Prov. Yungas, Challapata, pasando ladera quemada más alla de las Masdevallias, 1981 m. 4 March 2006. F. Miranda et al. 1236 (LPB!). Fig. 2 .

Notes.

Cranichis cylindrostachys is often considered to be a synonym of C. lehmannii (e.g. Garay, 1978). The two species differ in leaf petiole length (usually 3-4 cm long in C. lehmannii ) and inflorescence architecture (conical in C. lehmannii ), but whether they are different species is doubtful and further molecular studies are needed to clarify the situation.

Figures

Figure 2. Distribution of Cranichis species in Bolivia. A C. atrata, C. badia, C. beckii, C. ciliata, C. cylindrostachys. B C. garayana, C. lehmannii, C. longipetiolata, C. maldonadoana. C C. mandonii, C. muscosa, C. pulvinifera, C. silvicola, C. stictopylla. Base map provided by Natural Earth (www. naturalearthdata. com).

Figure 7. Cranichis cylindrostachys Schltr. A Dorsal sepal. B Petal. C Lateral sepal. D Lip, front view. E Lip, side view. Drawn by P. Baranow from F. Miranda 1236 et al. (LPB).