Native to Peru
Edited 18 July 2011
© Nina Rach
Originally published in Volume 15 of Biodiversity Research and Conservation, an international quarterly edited by Department of Plant Taxonomy of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland [www.brc.amu.edu.pl].
Latin description:
Haec species Sobralia violacea affinis est sed labello
basi concavo, labelli margine crenati, undulati, sepalis
et petalis breviore et latiore, gynostemium breviorum
et majorum, differt.
The type specimen of this newly described, pink-flowered, terrestrial sobralia was collected by Erica Moron de Abad in San Ramon, 1 km from Naranjal, Junín Region, Peru. The name is dedicated to Erica Moron de Abad and Raul Abad Echecopar. The holotype is archived at the Gdansk University Herbarium (UGDA-DLSz!).
This species is differentiated from other sobralias based on ITS sequence analyses, which show that it is related to
S. gloriosa Rchb.f. and S. rosea Poepp. & Endl.
Sobralia abadorum has a compact inflorescence, however, rather than the elongate, zig-zag inflorescence of those two species.
Location:
This is the only known occurrence of this species. San Ramón is the second largest town in Chanchamayo Province, in the Junín Region, on the eastern slopes of the Andean Cordillera Oriental in Peru.
San Ramón is situated at 11°07′29″S 75°21′25″W, at an elevation of 770 m above sea level.
General description:
Medium-sized, widely open pink flowers are produced on erect stems 40-60-cm tall.
"[S]epals and petals pink to pinkish-violet, dorsal sepal with white mid-nerve in the lower half, petals with darker mid-nerves, lip with pinkish to pink-violet margins, white throat with red or reddish spots in the entrance, gynostemium [column] whitish-cream. Floral bracts...green.
"Sepals connate, forming a basal tube 20-mm long. Dorsal sepal 60-mm long, 20 mm wide, oblong-elliptic, rounded at the apex, shortly apiculate.
Petals 65-mm long, 30-mm wide, obliquely oblong-obovate, acute to obtuse at the apex, nerves branching.
Lateral sepals 60-mm long, 25-mm wide, oblong elliptic, somewhat falcate, rounded at the apex, shortly apiculate. Lip 65-mm long, 50-mm wide, obovate in general outline, notched at the apex, concave in the centre,
strongly crenulate and undulate along margins in the apical half, nerves prominent, distinctly thickened in the lower part. Gynostemium [column] 35-mm long, clavate, massive, with prominent, falcate apical wings."
Dariusz L. Szlachetko, Magdalena Dudek, Marcin Górniak,
Joanna Mytnik-Ejsmont & Ricardo Fernandez 2009. 'Sobralia abadorum (Orchidaceae): a new orchid species from Peru,' in: Biodiv. Res. Conserv. 15: 3-8.
Full text available at
versita.metapress.com/content/0431072761936017/fulltext.pdf
Two photos available at EPIDENDRA, a database from Lankester Botanical Garden, Universidad de Costa Rica.
ING: Index Nominum Genericorum,
URL: http://botany.si.edu/ing/ from the U.S. National Herbarium, Dept. of Systematic Biology - Botany, Smithsonian Institution
International Plant Names Index [IPNI],
www.ipni.org
