Podochilus truongtamii Aver. & Vuong 2018

Photo by © Trong Ba Vuong and Taiwania 63(3) New Orchids (Orchidaceae: Epidendroideae and Vandoideae) in the Flora of Vietnam Averyanov, Van Canh NGUYEN, Hoang Tuan NGUYEN, Ba Vuong TRUONG, Phi Tam NGUYEN, Sinh Khang NGUYEN, Tatiana V. MAISAK, Hiep Tien NGUYEN, Duc Nam BUI, Xuan Canh CHU 2018

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Common Name Trong Tam's [Vietnamese Truong Ba Vuong named his plant discovery after his father, Truong Quang Tam]

Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]

Found in southern Vietnam in primary humid broad-leaved evergreen submontane forests on granite at elevations around 900 meters as a mini-miniature to miniature sized, warm growing epiphyte with a few to many, commonly pendulous, slender, rigid, rather straight, simple, leafy throughout stems enveloped by sheathing leaf bases and carrying numerous, distichous, all in one plane, rigid, coriaceous, sessile, joined, sheathing at base, elliptic, with aprominent median vein, obtuse leaves that blooms in the late spring and early summer on a terminal, comparably with related species rather long, .8 to 1.4" [2 to 3.5 mm] long, provided at the base with several greenish conduplicate rudimentary acute leaves, apically with small, broad almost scarious bracts, scape light greenish to almost white, successively 1 to 2, 3 to 10 flowered inflorescence and with light greenish to white or light pink, broadly triangular, conduplicate, acute, persistent, shorter than the ovary floral bracts

"New species in its vegetative habit and ecology resembles Podochilus banaensis Ormerod, P. khasianus Hook.f. (= P. intermedius Aver.) and P. microphyllus Lindl., widely distributed in eastern Indochina including Vietnam. In its floral morphology it is probably most close to P. khasianus, but well differs in much longer inflorescence to 1.4" [3.5 cm] long with scape longer than rachis (vs. inflorescence .2 to .26" [5 to 6 mm ]long, with scape much shorter than rachis, when rachis looks almost sessile), in the lip with erect fleshy wall at the base (vs. lip at the base flat, with two acute plain lateral lobes, with no fleshy erect wall) and long forward directed column foot, longer than lip breadth (vs. very short column foot, much shorter than lip base). It is noteworthy, that new species was found in the same geographic area as recently described local endemic, P. rotundipetala Aver. et Vuong. (Averyanov et al., 2016d). Both species, however, have no close relation and grow at different elevations, which probably, support their biological isolation. Additionally, P. truongtamii grows in rather dry habitats, when P. rotundipetala is commonly found on humid wet rocks along stream valleys. " Averyanov etal 2018

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Taiwania 63(3) New Orchids (Orchidaceae: Epidendroideae and Vandoideae) in the Flora of Vietnam Averyanov, Van Canh NGUYEN, Hoang Tuan NGUYEN, Ba Vuong TRUONG, Phi Tam NGUYEN, Sinh Khang NGUYEN, Tatiana V. MAISAK, Hiep Tien NGUYEN, Duc Nam BUI, Xuan Canh CHU 2018 photo fide

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