Lepanthes dignumii B.T.Larsen & Salas Guerr. 2018
TYPE photo by M. Salas Guerrero/TYPE Drawing by © Bruno Larsen and Phytotaxa 373: 291 Larsen, Guerrero and Dignum 2018
Common Name Dignum's Lepanthes [Dutch Ecologist and Co-collector of the new species]
Flower Size .08" [2mm]
Found in Amazonas department of Peru in humid montane forest at elevations around 3200 to 3300 meters as as a mini-miniature sized, cold growing, caespitose epiphyte with slender erect ramicauls enveloped by 3 to 4, micsroscopically scabrous lepanthiform sheaths with acuminate, minutely ciliate ostia and carrying a single, apical, erect, coriaceous, elliptical, obtuse, cuneate below into the petiolate base leaf that blooms in the fall on a horizontal, peduncle .6" [1.5 cm] long, rachis 1.8" [4.5 cm] long, loose, flexuous, successively single, many flowered inflorescence with as long as the pedicel floral bracts.
"Lepanthes dignumii and L. leimebambana are unique in column structure, with a similar but unique column structure for the genus in which the exposed dorsum of the column is enlarged into a large, glabrous, convex, acutely angled helm-like apex that forces the blades of the lip to bend outwards at the end of the connectives. Our initial thought was that this large, oval-shaped structure might be only the anther cap covering the clinandrium, but fruitless attempts were made to lift it up to expose the pollinia. In L. dignumii, as in all Lepanthes species, the anther cap and pollinia are located at the apex of the column. Lepanthes dignumii can be distinguished from L. leimebambana by the shorter pedicels (1.5 mm in L. dignumii vs. 4.0 mm in L. leimebambana) and flowers with deeply concave dorsal sepal (vs. shallowly concave in L. leimebambana), Finally, L. dignumii can be easily distinguished from all other species of Lepanthes by flowers with carinate, deeply concave dorsal and lateral sepals and spiculate margins, petals with oblong lobes with rounded ends and an oval-shaped apex in the dorsal part of the column. In both species the lip is bilaminate with the lobes poorly developed into blades but with rounded, long ciliate apices in L. leimebambana vs. truncate and long ciliate in L. dignumii. The appendix of the lip is in both species narrowly linear. The dorsal part of the column of L. leimebambana has an ovate, glabrous conspicuous helm-like apex vs. obovate in L. dignumii." B T Larsen and Salas Guerrero 2018
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
*Phytotaxa 373: 291 Larsen --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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