Espinhassoa rhombiglossa (Pabst) Salazar & J.A.N.Bat. 2019
TYPE Drawing by © Pabst
Common Name The Rhombic Shaped Tongue Espinhassoa
Flower Size
Found in Minas Gerais state of Brazil at elevations around 1300 meters as a miniature to small sized, cool growing terrestrial with a few, fleshy, glabrous roots giving rise to 2 to 3, basal, ascending, elliptic, seven veined, acute to obtuse, glabrous, smooth, margins paler than the rest of the blade, somewhat transluscent, attenuate below into the sessile base leaves that blooms in the fall on an erect, terminal, peduncle 1.2 to 8" [3 to 20 cm] long, glabrous, provided with 3 to 5, spaced, glabrous, acumiante sheathing bracts, rachis 1.12 to 2.8" [2.8 to 7 cm] long, glabrous, spiral, opening successively towards the apex, 10 to 18 flowered inflorescence with ascending, glabrous, lanceolate, long-acuminate, longer than the ovary floral bracts and carrying resupinate, green flowers
"In general, plants of E. rhombiglossa are smaller and their inflorescences shorter with fewer flowers, but the habit of !Espinhassoa glaziovii is quite variable and, although larger specimens are easy to differentiate, smaller specimens overlap in meristic characters (size of plants and flowers, length of inflorescence, and number of flowers) with E. rhombiglossa. The column of E. rhombiglossa is proportionally larger and stouter than that of E. glaziovii, in spite of the usually larger flowers of E. glaziovii. Other distinctive features of E. rhombiglossa are the glabrous inflorescence and flowers, the filament completely adnate to the column resulting in a poorly articulated anther, the fleshy floral segments, especially the labellum, and the small rostellum remnant about 0.1 mm long, which is distinctly shorter than the column lateral teeth. Moreover, the whole plants of E. rhombiglossa, including leaves, scape, bracts, and flowers, dry black, whereas in E. glaziovii plants and flowers dry pale brownish. The habitat of the two species seems to be similar, but E. rhombiglossa blooms at the end of the rainy season, in April, whereas E. glaziovii flowers from the beginning until the end of the rainy season, from May to November.
Synonyms *Hapalorchis rhombiglossa Pabst 1974; Mesadenus rhombiglossus (Pabst) Garay 1980 publ. 1982
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Bradea 1: 468 Pabst 1974 as Hapalorchis rhombiglossa
Orchidaceae Brasilenses Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 as Hapalorchis rhombiglossa drawing fide;
Bot. Mus. Leafl. 28: 336 Garay1980 publ. 1982 as Mesadenus rhombiglossus
* Syst. Bot. 44: 293 Salazar & J.A.N.Bat. 2019 photo fide
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