Cranichis atrata Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 58. 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

1. Cranichis atrata Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 7: 58. 1920.

Type.

COLOMBIA. Madero 3 (B†; lectotype, designated by Garay (1978: 191): AMES-drawing).

Diagnosis.

Plants 24 cm tall, erect. Leaf 1, basal, petiolate; petiole 12 cm long, narrow, canaliculate; blade 9 cm long, 7 cm wide, obliquely elliptical, acuminate, base cordate. Scape glabrous, enclosed in 4 non-foliaceous sheaths. Inflorescence 2.5 cm long, subdensely many-flowered. Flowers small, glabrous. Floral bracts 4.8 mm long, lanceolate, obtuse. Pedicellate ovary 5.0 mm long, glabrous. Dorsal sepal 3.7 mm long, 1.0 mm wide, oblong-elliptical, obtuse, 1-veined. Petals 3.1 mm long, 1.1 mm wide, obliquely ligulate-oblanceolate, obtuse, long cilia on both margins, 1-veined. Lateral sepals 3.1 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, obliquely elliptic-ovate, subacuminate, 1-veined. Lip 2.8 mm long, 2.1 mm wide, concave in the centre, subsessile, elliptic-obovate, minutely apiculate; disc with 3 thickened, dendritic branching veins. Gynostemium 1.3 mm long. Fig. 1 .

Habitat and ecology.

Terrestrial plants growing in subhumid Tucumano-Boliviano forest at an altitude of 2200 m. Flowers in February.

Representative specimen.

BOLIVIA. Santa Cruz: Prov. Vallegrande. Río San Lorenzo, entre Piraimiri y Masicurí, 2220 m. 23 February 1991, R. Vasquez et al. 1429 (LPB!). Fig. 2 .

Notes.

This species is usually considered to be a synonym of C. ciliata (e.g. Garay 1978; Hamer 1985; Christenson 1991; Bogarín et al. 2014), however, the venation of the lateral sepals is a constant character that can be used to distinguish these two taxa. Lateral sepals of C. atrata are always 1-veined (vs. 2- or 3-veined).

Figures

Figure 1. Cranichis atrata Schltr. A Ovary and floral bract. B Floral bract. C Dorsal sepal. D Petal. E Lateral sepal. F Lip. Drawn by P. Baranow from R. Vasquez et al. 1429 (LPB).

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).