Cranichis muscosa Sw., Prodr. 120. 1788.

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

12. Cranichis muscosa Sw., Prodr. 120. 1788.

Cranichis ovata Wikstr., Kongl. Vetensk. Acad. Handl. 73. 1920.

Type.

JAMAICA. s.n. (lectotype, designated by Garay (1978: 202): BM!; isolectotypes, LD, S!, W!).

Diagnosis.

Plants up to 25 cm tall, erect, strict or flexuose. Leaves 3-5, basal, rosulate, petiolate; petiole 2-3 cm long; blade 2.5-3 cm long, up to two cm wide, ovate, elliptic-ovate to oblong, acute to subobtuse. Scape slender, enclosed in five sheaths. Inflorescence up to 7.5 cm long, cylindrical, subdensely many-flowered. Flowers small, white. Floral bracts four to five mm long, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate. Pedicellate ovary 5-6 mm long, glabrous. Dorsal sepal 2.2 mm long, one mm wide, oblong-lanceolate to oblong-ovate, acute, 3-veined. Petals 2 mm long, 0.6 mm wide, linear-ligulate to narrowly oblanceolate, obtuse, subfalcate, margins ciliate, 1-veined. Lateral sepals 3 mm long, 1.8 mm wide, obliquely oblong-ovate to elliptic-ovate, acuminate, acute, obscurely 2-veined. Lip 2.2 mm long, 1.87 mm wide, concave, subsessile, ovate to suborbicular-ovate, shortly apiculate to acute; disc with irregular knob-like projections in the centre. Gynostemium 2 mm long. Fig. 14 .

Habitat and ecology.

According to Vásquez et al. (2014) this species grows as an epiphyte in humid amazon forest at altitudes between 500-1000 m. Flowers in April.

Representative specimen.

BOLIVIA. Santa Cruz: Velasco. Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado. Campamento Las Gamas. Bosque de colina, 900 m. 4 April 1993. T. Killeen et al. 5050 (herb. Vásquez, MO, USZ- Vásquez et al. 2014). Fig. 2 .

Notes.

This is a widely distributed species. Its geographical range extends from USA (Florida) to Brazil and Bolivia. It is recognized by its foliaceous scape, minutely ciliolate petals and lip with membranous margin.

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 14. Cranichis muscosa Sw. A Dorsal sepal. B Petal. C Lateral sepal. D Lip, front view. E Lip, side view. Drawn by N. Oledrzynska from Garay & Sweet 1057 (AMES).