Cranichis stictophylla Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 62. 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

15. Cranichis stictophylla Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 62. 1920.

Type.

COLOMBIA. Madero s.n. (B†).

Diagnosis.

Plants 33-36 cm tall. Leaf 1, basal, petiolate; petiole 3-4 cm long; blade 4.5-6.5 cm long, 2-3.5 cm wide, ovate, acuminate, base subrounded-cuneate, white spotted. Scape glandulous-pilose toward the apex, enclosed in 5-6 sheaths. Inflorescence 3-6 cm long, cylindrical, sublaxly to subdensely 15-flowered. Flowers greenish-white, glabrous. Floral bracts 2.1-4 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, sparsely glandular. Pedicellate ovary 7-7.5 mm long, densely glandular-ciliate. Dorsal sepal 2.9-3 mm long, 0.8-1.2 mm wide, oblong elliptical, obtuse, 1-veined. Petals 2.9-3 mm long, 0.7-0.8 mm wide, obliquely linear-oblanceolate, obtuse, glabrous, 1-veined. Lateral sepals 3 mm long, 1.2-1.5 mm wide, obliquely elliptic-ovate, slightly concave at base, subacuminate, obtuse, obscurely 2-veined. Lip 2.5 mm long, 2.0-1.9 mm wide, slightly concave, sessile, ovate, rounded or obtuse; disc with 3 or 5 dendritic thick branching veins, with prominent nodules. Gynostemium 1-1.3 mm long. Fig. 17 .

Habitat and ecology.

Terrestrial in Tucumano-Boliviano cloud forest and disturbed forest with Prumnopitys Phil. ( Podocarpaceae ), Myrtaceae , Dicksonia L’Hér. ( Dicksoniaceae , and Cyathea Kaulf. ( Cyatheaceae ) at altitudes between 2100-2200 m. Flowers in June.

Representative specimens.

BOLIVIA. Santa Cruz: Prov. Florida, 7 km NE of Mairana. Southern limit of expanded Parque Nacional Amboró, entering from Mairana, 2200 m. 2 June 1991. M. Nee 40653 (LPB!), Prov. Vallegrande, 5 km de Loma Larga a Vallegrande. 7 June 1996. M. Kessler et al. 6352 (LPB!). Fig. 2 .

Notes.

This species is often considered as conspecific with C. diphylla (e.g. Garay 1978) from which it differs, e.g., in having a 1-veined dorsal sepal.

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 17. Cranichis stictophylla Schltr. A Floral bract. B Dorsal sepal. C Petal. D Lateral sepal. E Lip. Drawn by P. Baranow from M. Nee 40653 (LPB).