Pterichis lunatilabia Kolan., Baranow & S.Nowak 2020 SECTION Pterichis
TYPE Drawing by © Baranow
Common Name The Crescent Shaped Lip Pterichis
Flower Size
Found in La Paz department of Bolivia very wet areas near paramo yungueño as well as on moss-covered rocks at the altitude of 3090–3150 meters as a large sized, cool growing terrestrial or lithophyte with a linear-lanceolate, acute leaf that blooms in the fall on an erect, peduncle slender, 18" [18 to 35 cm] long overall, provided with 3 to 4, acuminate, tubular sheaths, rachis glandular-puberulent, 7 to 10 flowered inflorescence with ovate, acuminate, glandular-puberulent, shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying yellow to yellow brown flowers with externally densely glandular-puberulent, 3-veined sepals, sparsely ciliate, 1- or 3-veined petals and a lip with a glandular-ciliate disc.
"This species is similar to Pterichis galeata and Pterichis leucoptera, but it can be distinguished by the oblong-lanceolate, sparsely ciliate petals (vs glabrous, elliptic above linear claw). Pterichis galeata was the first species described within Pterichis and it is broadly distributed in Andean countries (Colombia, Ecuador, Venzuela, Peru, Bolivia) and in Costa Rica. The morphological variation of this species prompted Morales (1986) to divide it into two varieties based on the inflorescence (length, number of flowers), but the general flower characteristics, e.g., unguiculate petals and auriculate lip base are consistent between populations. Pterichis leucoptera is a somewhat enigmatic species known from very few collections but according to Schlechter (1921) it differs from P. galeata mainly in the plant size. Also, the lip auricles in P. leucoptera are not conspicuous like in P. galeata and petals are subequal in length to the dorsal sepal (vs petals longer than dorsal sepal in P. galeata). More Peruvian collections should be made to verify the actual separateness of these two species. In the Bolivian Pterichis mandonii, petals are glabrous (vs sparsely ciliate in P. lunatilabia) and distinctly widened near the middle (vs oblong-lanceolate in P. lunatilabia). In P. mandonii the broad middle lobe of the lip only slightly exceeds the lip’s lateral lobes (vs much exceeding lateral lobes in P. lunatilabia)." Kolan. 2020
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
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