Lepanthes peltata Thoerle & Hirtz, 2015

Thoerle, Lisa & Hirtz, Alexander C., 2015, Three new Lepanthes species (Pleurothallidinae, Orchidaceae) from Ecuador, Phytotaxa 201 (1), pp. 50-62 : 56-57

Lepanthes peltata Thoerle & Hirtz , sp. nov., Figs. 5 , 6 .

Type:— ECUADOR. Probably Zamora-Chinchipe: around Zamora, elev. 800 m, flowered in cultivation by Mario Portilla at Ecuagenera, Gualaceo, Ecuador, November 2010, Hirtz 10341 (holotype: MO!), L. Thoerle illustr. 301.

Diagnosis: — Lepanthes peltata is similar to L. alticola Schweinfurth (1942: 121 , t. 16), but with much smaller flowers, with shortly acuminate sepals, and petals with lobes subequal in size.

Plant medium in size for the genus, presumably epiphytic, caespitose; roots slender. Ramicauls erect to horizontal, 4–4.5 cm long, enclosed by 6–7 ribbed lepanthiform sheaths, ribs and dilated ostia minutely verrucose. Leaf with underside irregularly speckled with darker green, erect to nearly horizontal, thinly coriaceous, elliptical-obovate, apex minutely retuse with a minute apiculum, 12–17 × 8 (dried)– 10 mm, the base cuneate into a petiole ca. 4 mm long. Inflorescence 1–3 suberect to arching to more or less horizontal with increasing length, loose, flexuous, successively single-flowered racemes with up to at least 15 flowers, to at least 8 cm long including the filiform peduncle 6–10 mm long, borne behind or in front of the leaf; floral bracts minutely verrucose, acuminate, 1.5–2 mm long; pedicels 2 mm long, ca. 5 mm apart; ovary with ribs verrucose, 1.25 mm long; sepals yellow with reddish suffusion centrally and below the apices of the lateral sepals, denticulate, externally carinate, the dorsal sepal concave, ovate, acute, shortly acuminate, 4 × 2.5 mm, 3-veined, connate to the lateral sepals for 1 mm, the lateral sepals ovate, oblique, subacute, shortly acuminate, 4 × 3.75 mm together, 2-veined, connate 2.25 mm into a concave synsepal; petals yellow with inner margin of upper lobe red, pubescent-setaceous, transversely bilobed, 0.6 × 3.5 mm, lobes narrowly, obtusely triangular-ovate, subequal in size; lip cream, lavender toward the base, densely pubescent, bilobate without forming blades, broadly ovate, obtuse, 1.2 × 1.2 mm, connectives short, narrow, connate to the column near the middle without forming a body; column white, 1.2 mm long, with the anther apical and the stigma ventral, anther cap pale yellow, shape approximating an upside-down V, 0.4 mm long, pollinia yellow.

Distribution: —Known only from the type collection.

Etymology: —From the Greek peltatus, “shield shaped,” for the shape of the laminae of the lip.

Discussion: — Lepanthes peltata would be unremarkable if not for the bladeless lip, with pubescent, shield-shaped laminae draped over the column, the lobes hanging on either side. Other species share a gradually lengthening, elongate inflorescence bearing a more or less concave flower with ovate, shortly acuminate sepals, and narrowly triangular petals. The lip of the widespread L. alticola ( Fig. 7 ), is similar, but the sepals are long-acuminate rather than shortly acuminate and up to 7 mm in length rather than 4 mm, and the upper lobe of the petals is larger than the lower.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Lepanthes peltata. A. Habit. B. Flower with partial inflorescence. C. Dissected flower. D. Lip and column with anther cap, front view. E. Anther cap. F. Ovary, lip expanded, and column, ventral view. G. Ovary, column with anther cap, lip with foreground lamina removed, profile. H. Ovary, lip, and column, profile. Drawn by L. Thoerle from the holotype, Hirtz 10341 (MO).

FIGURE 6. Lepanthes peltata. Flower from a cultivated plant. Photographed by A. Hirtz from the plant that provided the holotype specimen.

FIGURE 7. Lepanthes alticola. Drawn by C. A. Luer from Luer et al. 9523 (MO). Reprinted with the kind permission of C. A. Luer and the Missouri Botanical Garden Press.