Coelogyne chrysotropis Schltr., Orchis

Adit, Arjun & Kumar, Pankaj, 2024, Taxonomy of Coelogyne section Fuliginosae (Orchidaceae): new species, notes, resurrections and typifications, Phytotaxa 668 (1), pp. 81-98 : 83-85

Coelogyne chrysotropis Schltr., Orchis 5: 58. (1911)

LECTOTYPE (designated here; Fig. 1 ). INDONESIA. Icon , Schlechter 17–22 ( Orchis 5: Abbild. 7, 8 and 9).

DISTRIBUTION. Indonesia (Sumatra)

NOTES. The holotype ( Indonesia. Sumatra, Belawan, cult. B.G. Glasnevin [B-Holotype†]) was unfortunately destroyed due to bombing of the Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem (B) during World War II ( Ames 1944; Christenson 1987). Since no herbarium specimens from the original collection are present, only the type drawing (Schlechter 1911) could be consulted, and is designated as lectotype here. Species identity has been confirmed using the description provided by Schlechter (1911) and Clayton (2002). George & George (2011) have also maintained that this is a distinct species. Synanthous inflorescence, golden colored flowers, ciliate midlobe of labellum, and bilobed column tip make this species distinct from others in the section. Although no herbarium specimens have been collected or reported since its description, we have chosen to recognize it as a separate entity, in hope that this intriguing species may be rediscovered in future.

Coelogyne fimbriata Lindl., Bot. Reg. 11: 868 (1825); Pleione fimbriata (Lindl.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 680 (1891); Pleione chinensis Kuntze , in Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 680 (1891)

TYPE. CHINA. 1824, J. D. Parks s.n. (K-LINDL!- Holotype; C, P!- Isotype) .

Broughtonia linearis Wall. ex Lindl., Gen. Sp. Orchid. 42 (1830). TYPE. not designated.

Coelogyne fimbriata var. acuminata Regel , in Index Seminum (LE, Petropolitanus) 1855: 18 (1855), TYPE. not found.

Coelogyne fimbriata var. annamica Finet ex Gagnep., Fl. Indo-Chine. 6: 309 (1919). TYPE. VIETNAM, Lang-bian, Annam, Eberhardt 216 (P!- Holotype).

Coelogyne laotica Gagnep., Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. , sér. 2: 425 (1930). TYPE. LAOS. Thorel s.n. (P!- Holotype, Isotype).

Coelogyne xerophyta Hand. -Mazz., Symb. Sin. 7: 1346 (1936). TYPE. CHINA. Yunnan, Handel-Mazzetti 8457 (W!- Holotype, Paratype; AMES!- Isotype).

Coelogyne primulina Barretto, Orchid Rev. 98: 39 (1990); Coelogyne fimbriata var. primulina (Barretto) Roeth in Orchidee (Hamburg) 59: 27 (2008). TYPE. HONG KONG. R. Barretto & Coultous-G. Barretto 315 ( K!- Holotype; HK!- Isotype) .

DISTRIBUTION. Bhutan, Cambodia, China (South), India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, West Bengal), Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam

SPECIMENS EXAMINED. CHINA, March 1825, Icon, M. Hart t.868 (K-LINDL!) ; Hong Kong , 1825, J. G. Champion s.n. ( K!) ; Hong Kong Island, Mt. Violet , 24 April 2013, Pankaj Kumar 12026 ( KFBG!) ; Hong Kong Island , R. Barretto & Coultous-G. Barretto 315 ( K!; HK!) ; Yunnan, Handel-Mazzetti 8457 ( W!; AMES!) ; INDIA , Meghalaya: Khasi hills, J. D. Hooker & T. Thomson 157 ( K!) ; Jorain , N. P. Balakrishnan 42953 ( CAL!) ; Sikkim: 1898, Pantling 19 ( CAL!) ; Uttarakhand: Kumaon , R. Blinkworth 1957 ( K!) ; NEPAL, Thoka , Sept. 1821, N. Wallich 1957 ( K!) ; INDONESIA. Sumatra, Kampaeng Tengah, Schlechter 15950 BO !); LAOS. Thorel s.n. ( P!) ; MALAYSIA. Perak, Taiping Hills, Curtis s.n. ( SING!) ; VIETNAM, Ha Giang province, Quan Ba district, Quan Ba , 06 Dec. 2005, L. V. Averyanov, P. K. Loc, T. V. Thao, P. V. The & N. S. Khang HAL8358 ( LE!) ; Ha Giang province, Quan Ba district, Tung Vai commune, Lung Kho village , 18 Oct. 2018, L. V. Averyanov, N. S. Khang, T. Maisak & T. D. Thieu VR992 ( LE!) ; Vinh Phuc province, Tam Dao district , 12 June 1985, L. V. Averyanov LX-VN 2377 GN 301, LX-VN 2324 GN 277 ( LE!) .

NOTES. Coelogyne fimbriata was the first species to be described from living specimens in the genus by Lindley (1825). Therefore, this species tested earlier descriptions of the genus and acted as an unofficial type for further elaboration of key features. The living specimen was received by the garden of Horticultural Society (and accessible to Lindley) through John Damper Parks from China.

While describing C. ovalis , a species which had much resemblance to C. fimbriata, Lindley (1838) amended the description for C. fimbriata and provided differences between the two species. Coelogyne fimbriata differs from C. ovalis by having smaller yellowish green flowers and sub-rotund pseudobulbs with thick veinless cuticles, ciliate lateral lobes and straight keels. It may be noted that C. fimbriata has been known to bear additional two keels on the epichile throughout its distribution range, and this is a labile character in the species. Although C. fimbriata and C. ovalis co-occur at several sites along their distribution range (as evident in the Himalayan region) and flower almost at the same time, hand pollination experiments to cross these two entities have consistently failed to set fruits (PK pers. obs.). Both species have been observed to be visited and pollinated by different species of wasps in Hong Kong (PK pers. obs.). In China, C. fimbriata has been documented to be pollinated by Vespula sp. ( Cheng et al. 2009). Chromosome number, n=20 has been reported by Mehra and Sehgal (Löve 1976).

Schuiteman et al. (2022) has abstained from mentioning any heterotypic synonyms for C. fimbriata , understandably due to the highly problematic nature of the taxa. Clayton (2002) argues that C. fimbriata var. annamica is not associated to C. fimbriata based on plastic characters of labellum such as projecting side lobes and a pointier mid lobe. And while previous workers have placed C. fimbriata var. annamica under synonymy of C. pallens , it is worth noting that the habit and flowers of C. fimbriata var. annamica are smaller and labellum is devoid of a median keel (reduced to a nerve line). It is also evident from the holotype that the labellum side lobes are rounded (as opposed to acute labellum side lobes in C. pallens ). This along with the fact that it possesses straight and un-interrupted lateral keels is evidence enough to list it as a synonym of C. fimbriata .

Due to characters like small flower size, absence of hairs on the side lobes of the labellum and two un-interrupted keels in C. primulina , C. laotica and C. xerophyta (after conferring type specimens and protologue), we are in agreement with Clayton (2002) to include them as synonyms of C. fimbriata . A forgotten name Broughtonia linearis Wall ex. Lindl., is added as a new synonym for C. fimbriata . It is important to note that this is different from Broughtonia linearis Wall ex. Hook., which is a synonym of C. ovalis . In absence of a type or recorded description for C. fimbriata var. acuminata , it has been tentatively reduced to synonymy here pending further studies.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Schlechter’s type drawing of Coelogyne chrysotropis (images labelled 17–22 on the Icon; separated here by a dashed line for visual ease) selected here as lectotype (courtesy of the Biodiversity Resource Library).