Cranichis beckii Kolan., Baranow, S. Nowak & A. Fuentes, sp. nov.

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

3. Cranichis beckii Kolan., Baranow, S. Nowak & A. Fuentes, sp. nov.

Type.

BOLIVIA. Beck 313 (holotype: LPB!).

Diagnosis.

Species similar to C. lehmannii , but distinguished by larger leaves up to 20 cm long, 1-veined lateral sepals, spathulate-obovate petals and ciliate ovary.

Plants 50 cm tall. Leaves 3, basal, petiolate; petiole 8-10 cm long, narrow; blade 11-20 cm long, 4-6 cm wide, ovate, acute. Scape erect, enclosed in about 6, foliaceous sheaths. Inflorescence 16 cm long, conical, sublaxly many-flowered. Flowers yellowish, glabrous. Floral bracts 6.2 mm long, lanceolate, acute, microscopically ciliate. Pedicellate ovary 9.5 mm long, microscopically ciliate. Dorsal sepal 3.5 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, oblong-ovate, acuminate, obtuse, 1-veined. Petals 3.2 mm long, 1.3 mm wide, obliquely spathulate-obovate, apiculate, 1-veined. Lateral sepals 3.5 mm long, 1.7 mm wide, obliquely oblong-elliptical, subapiculate, concave near base, 1-veined. Lip 3 mm long, 2.1 mm wide, concave, subsessile, elliptical to oblong-elliptical in outline, apiculate at apex; disc deeply concave in the centre with numerous, irregularly subglobose thickenings on inner surface, veins 3, thickened. Gynostemium 2 mm long. Fig. 4 .

Etymology.

Dedicated to Stephan G. Beck, who collected the type specimen and is a former director of Herbario Nacional de Bolivia.

Habitat and ecology.

Terrestrial in Yungas humid, secondary montane forest at an altitude of ca. 1730 m. Flowers in February.

Representative specimen.

BOLIVIA. La Paz: Prov. Nor Yungas. Cotapata. Estación Biológica de Tunkini. A media hora de la EBT, cruzando l río, 1735 m. 2 February 2002. S. G. Beck 313 (LPB!). Fig. 2A , 4 .

Notes.

This species resembles C. lehmannii in general flower morphology, but its petals are spathulate-obovate, widest apically and similar in shape to those of C. diphylla . Leaves of C. lehmannii are smaller (up to 11 cm long), its ovary is glabrous (microscopically ciliate in C. beckii ), lateral sepals are 2-veined (vs 1-veined in C. beckii ) and petals are lanceolate. The comparative morphology of C. beckii and C. lehmannii is presented in Table 1 .

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 4. Cranichis beckii sp. nov. A Ovary and gynostemium. B Floral bract. C Dorsal sepal. D Petal. E Lateral sepal. F Lip, front view. G Lip, side view. Drawn by P. Baranow from S. G. Beck 313 et al. (LPB).