Myoxanthus ceratothallis (Reichenbach, 1854) Luer, 1982

Rojas-Alvarado, Gustavo, Blanco, Mario A. & Karremans, Adam P., 2021, A taxonomic synopsis and morphological characterization of Myoxanthus (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae), Phytotaxa 507 (3), pp. 211-258 : 230-231

5. Myoxanthus ceratothallis (Rchb.f.) Luer (1982a: 36). (Fig. 12E)

Basionym: Pleurothallis ceratothallis Reichenbach (1854: 25) .

TYPE:— VENEZUELA. “Caracas”: 6000 ft., flowered in cultivation by Schiller in Hamburg , Wagener s.n (holotype: W!).

Homotypic synonym: Humboltia ceratothallis (Rchb.f.) Kuntze (1891: 667), as “ Humboldtia ”.

Heterotypic synonyms: Pleurothallis longipes Körnicke (1855: 281) . TYPE:—[ VENEZUELA]. Wagener s.n. (holotype, lost). Dubois-reymondia lancipetala Karsten (1858: 47) . Pleurothallis lancipetala (H.Karst.) Schlechter (1919: 62) . Myoxanthus lancipetalus (H.Karst.) Luer (1982a: 43) . TYPE:—[ VENEZUELA]. Crescit cum sequente in montibus Venezuelanis, 2000‒2500 metra altis pronvinciae Caracas, cultivated at

Allard´s, Garden, Karsten s.n.? (holotype: lost, lectotype here designated, (colour illustration) tab. XLVII, in Florae Columbiae 1:

95. 1858 ( Fig. 13 ).

Distribution:— Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Notes:— Pleurothallis ceratothallis was described by Reichenbach (1854) from a plant collected in Caracas, Venezuela, and cultivated in Hamburg by Consul Schiller. In 1855, Körnicke described the same species from a plant sent from Venezuela by Wagener and cultivated in the garden of Mr. Allard. Only a few years later, in 1858, the same species was given a third name by Karsten, who described and illustrated this species as Dubois-reymondia lancipetala , also from a plant brought from Caracas and cultivated at the garden of Mr. Allard, according to the protologue.

In his monograph of Myoxanthus, Luer (1992) indicated “ H. Wagener 1073 ” as the collection number of the type of P. ceratothallis . According to the introduction of Reichenbach´s article dedicated to the orchids collected by Wagener, it is clear that the type of P. ceratothallis was collected by Wagener. However, no indication of Wagener’s number 1073 is given either in the protologue or on the type at W, but instead there is a label on the sheet annotated as “ ceratothallis Schiller L 611”. Luer may have taken the number “ 1073 ” from the Schiller´s catalogue of 1861 where the name P. ceratothallis appears under the number 1071. However, this is simply a numbered series in Schiller´s catalogue, not the collector’s number. A similar number is found on the type of Pleurothallis hystrix (W-0117999), “ L612 Pleurothallis hystrix ”, and the type of Pleurothallis loranthophylla Reichenbach (1852: 674, W-0075649!), which has two handwritten labels, “ Pleurothallis loranthophylla Kalbreyer Dec. 57. L562 ” and “ 148 Rhynchopera punctata Wagener ”. We do not know what the numbers with “ L ” stand for, but these numbers could be by Reichenbach’s and the collectors.

Since the holotype of Dubois-reymondia lancipetala has not been found and may have been destroyed in the Berlin Herbarium during World War II ( Merrill 1943; Hermann Karsten was professor of botany in Berlin from 1856– 1868), the beautiful and detailed painting of the type plant in life included in the original publication ( Karsten 1858) is designated here as the lectotype (right) of D. lancipetala . The illustration of D. lancipetala that appeared together with that of D. palpigera (≡ M. reymondii ) was both drawn while flowering in cultivation in the garden of a Mr. Allard, leaving no doubt about its relationship to Pleurothallis ceratothallis . Pleurothallis longipes , which fits with P. ceratothallis , is also in need of a typification. However, we have located no original material.

Myoxanthus ceratothallis is similar to M. hirsuticaulis , M. parvilabius and M. priapus in having yellowish and purple-striped flowers with small trichomes adaxially on the sepals. However, it is recognized by the margin sepals covered by trichomes to the apex and reflexed synsepal with conspicuous adaxial, white trichomes at the base.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Lectotype (right) of Dubois-reymondia lancipetala Karsten. Reproduced in Florae Columbiae 1: 95. 1858, tab. XLVII.