Dracula agnosia A.Doucette, 2012

Doucette, Alfonso, 2012, Dracula agnosia (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae), a long confused undescribed species, Phytotaxa 56 (1), pp. 23-27 : 23-27

Dracula agnosia A.Doucette , sp. nov. ( Figs. 1–3 )

A Dracula olmosii sepalis stramineis et pubescentia breviore densioreque differt.

Type: — PANAMA: Chiriqui: Guadalupe, gathered from material cultivated at Finca Dracula , reported from the Province of Bocas del Torro, sendero Bocas del Toro, camino a valle libre, sendero 2 Oceanos, ca. 1900 m., 1 Nov 2011, Doucette 4001 (holotype: BH!; isotypes: PMA!, WIS; currently in cultivation at Finca Dracula ; Figs. 1 , 3 ).

Caespitose herbs, 10–18 cm tall. Roots flexuous, 0.15 cm in diameter. Stems semiterete, sulcate adaxially, keeled abaxially, 2.0– 3.5 cm long, enveloped by 3 sheaths, 0.4–3.6 cm long, 0.3–0.5 cm wide. Leaf erect; blade thinly coriaceous, narrowly oblanceolate, acute apically, gradually narrowed basally, 8.0–15.0 cm long, 1.7–2.2 cm wide. Inflorescence a successively to simultaneously few-flowered raceme with up to 3 flowers; peduncle slender, terete, subverrucose, erect to descending, 4.7–10.0 cm long, enveloped by 3 to many tubular bracts, 0.2–0.7 cm long. Flower pedicellate; pedicel slender, straight, 1 cm long; ovary purple, verrucose, 0.30–0.45 cm long; sepals cream to yellow, suffused with orange or brown around the middle, shortly pubescent, connate into a cup, dorsal sepal ovate, 0.9–1.2 cm long, 0.7–0.8 cm wide abruptly contracted into a purple tail 2.0– 2.5 cm long, lateral sepal ovate, oblique, 0.95–1.00 cm long, 0.75–0.80 cm wide with a tail similar to that of the dorsal sepal; petals cream, marked with brown, oblong, bivalvate, verrucose apically with denticulate margins, 0.3 cm long, 0.1 cm wide, the outer valve reflexed; lip pale rose, spatulate, 0.5 cm long, 0.25 cm wide; hypochile sulcate with upturned margins and a concave base, 0.30 cm long, 0.25 cm wide; epichile concave with three low keels, the outer two weakly branched along the outer margin, 0.25 cm long, 0.25 cm wide; column cream, semiterete, 0.35 cm long, 0.15 cm wide, the foot 0.20 cm long, 0.15 cm wide.

Additional specimens examined (paratypes): — PANAMA: Bocas del Torro : sendero Bocas del Toro, camino a valle libre, sendero 2 Oceanos , ca. 1900 m., 18 Jan 2012, Davis s.n. (photograph, BH) . Chiriqui: Guadalupe, gathered from material cultivated at Finca Dracula , reported from the Province of Bocas del Torro, sendero Bocas del Toro, camino a valle libre, sendero 2 Oceanos , ca. 1900 m., 20 Jan 2012, Doucette 4003–4005 ( PMA) . USA: New York, Ithaca, cultivated at Cornell University , 21 March 2012, Doucette 4011 ( BH) .

Etymology: — From the Greek— agnosia , without knowledge, in reference to the distribution of an undescribed species and its confusion with another.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Dracula agnosia. A. Habit. B. Column and lip attached to ovary. C. Upper surface of lip, lower surface of lip. D. Outer surface of petal, profile of petal, inner surface of petal. E. Dorsal sepal, lateral sepal, both with a portion of the tail removed. Drawn from the holotype Doucette 4001.

FIGURE 2. Dracula agnosia in situ, Panama, 18 Jan 2012, Davis s.n.

FIGURE 3. Comparison of species similar to Dracula agnosia. A–C. D. maduroi. D. D. agnosia Davis s.n., E. D. agnosia, Doucette 4003, F. D. agnosia, Doucette 4001. G–I. D. olmosii.