IOSPE PHOTOS

Spiranthes tenuis Lindl. 1840

Photo by © Andres Gonzales and his Fotos de Flora Nativa y Adventicaias de Uruguay Website

Drawing of Spiranthes tenuis by © Dunsterville and Garay

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Common Name The Thin Spiranthes

Flower Size .2" [5 mm]

Found in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Fr Guiana, Venezuela, Colombia? Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay? and Argentina in woodlands at elevations around 550 to 2250 meters as a miniature to small sized, warm to cool growing terrestrial or lithophyte with a short stem carrying several, in a basal rosette, subcoriaceous, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, acute, wide spread, basally conduplicate, sessile leaves and blooms in the late winter and spring on an erect, terminal, peduncle to 4" [10 cm] long, providedd with a few distant sheathing bracts, glabrous below and pilose above, rachis 4" [10 cm] long, laxly several to many flowered inflorescence with inflated, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous, as long as the ovary floral bracts and carrying small, resupinate, white flowers.

CAUTION Kew and others place Spiranthes tenuis as a synonym of Hapalorchis lineatus (Lindl.) Schltr. 1920. I follow Szlachetko & Kolanowska 2019 etal in keeping them separate for the reasons cited here. S tenuis has conduplicate, sessile leaves and apically relaxed sepals while Hapalorchis lineatus has petiolate based leaves. and apically reflexed sepals giving it an antelope look.

Synonyms Cyclopogon pauciflorus (Porto & Brade) Pabst 1974; Gyrostachys tenuis (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Hapalorchis pauciflorus Porto & Brade 1937;

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 466 Lindley 1840 as Spiranthes tenuis

Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 3, 1: 334 Lindley 1858 as Sauroglossum tenue = Hapalorchis lineatus

Gen. Spec. Orchid. 1: 183 Barb Rodr. 1877 as Spiranthes micranthus = Hapalorchis lineatus

Gen. Spec. Orchid. 1(Index): iii Barb Rodr. 1877 as Cyclopogon micranthus = Hapalorchis lineatus

Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 664 Kuntze 1891 as Gyrostachys tenuis

Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 7: 123 Cogniaux 1909 as Spiranthes fawcettii = Hapalorchis lineatus

Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI: 339 Orchidaceae Urban 1909 as S fawcettii = Hapalorchis lineatus ;

Flora of Jamaica: 27 Fawcett & Rendle 1910 as S fawcettii = Hapalorchis lineatus

Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 6: 30 Schlechter 1919 as Hapalorchis tenuis = Hapalorchis lineatus

Schedul. Orchid. 2: 8 Ames 1923 as Spiranthes amabilis = Hapalorchis lineatus

Arq. Inst. Biol. Veg. 3: 131 Porto & Brade 1937 as Hapalorchis pauciflorus

Bol. Estaçión Exp. Agron. Santiago de las Vegas 60: 35 Acuna 1939 as Cyclopogon amabilis = Hapalorchis lineatus

Flora Brasilica Vol XII II: 291 Hoehne 1945 as Hapalorchis micranthus = Hapalorchis lineatus

Flora Brasilica Vol XII II: tab 159 Hoehne 1945 as Hapalorchis micranthus drawing = Hapalorchis lineatus ;

Fl. Brasílica 12(2): 291 Hoehne 1945 as Hapalorchis lineatus var micrantha = Hapalorchis lineatus ;

AOS Bulletin Vol 38 No 6 1969 as Spiranthes tenuis;

Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 1 1969 as Spiranthes tenuis drawing good;

Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 as Spiranthes tenuis drawing fide

Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 773 Hamer 1982 as Spiranthes tenuis drawing fide;

Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 as Spiranthes tenuis drawing good;

Materials to the Orchid Flora of Colombia: 130 Szlachetko & Kolanowska 2019 as Spiranthes tenuis drawing fide;

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