Cynorkis christae Hermans, Andriant. & Sieder, Kew Bull. 72(3)-38: 2 (2017).
Description:
Pendent or arching terrestrial herb, up to 56 cm tall including the inflorescence. With two elongate tubers clustered at the stem base, c. 6 x 2 cm, roots 2 - 3 mm in diam. Stem, combined with the leaf petiole up to 9 cm long, subtended by 1 - 2 funnel-shaped sheaths, with a large solitary arching radical leaf. Leaf glabrous, pale to mid-green, glossy above, lanceolate-elliptic, acuminate and a little narrowed towards the base, obtuse apically, up to 18 cm long, 9 cm wide, probably larger when mature. Inflorescence up to 40 cm long, 2.3 - 3.1 mm in diam., green with a few brown marks towards the base, glabrous, emerging from the base of the unfurling leaf, with a large ovate leaf-like peduncle sheath in the upper third, enveloping the peduncle in the lower half then expanded and acuminate, 6.1 - 7.1 cm long, 2.8 - 3.6 cm wide; with 3 - 4 flowers at the apex, opening in succession; floral bracts green, similar in shape to the peduncle sheath, apiculate, 25 - 29 mm long, 8 - 11 mm wide; pedicel and ovary almost straight, up to 45 mm long, 3 mm wide, hirsute, yellowish-green. Flowers very large for the genus, strongly and pleasantly scented, overall 6 - 6.8 cm long, 4.5 - 6.2 cm wide, not including the spur; sepals greenish-white with the veins green, the interior marked with purple red, the exterior densely papillose, petals white, lip white, spur pale green, column yellowish white, anther loculi pale yellow. Dorsal sepal elliptic-oblong, subacute, concave, together with the petals, forming a hood over the column, 30 - 33 mm long, 15 - 19 mm wide; lateral sepals spreading, oblong-ligulate, somewhat concave, 31 - 33 mm long, 12 - 13 mm wide. Petals lanceolate-ligulate acute, 26 - 28 mm long, 6.0 - 6.5 mm wide, the anterior margin expanded at the base. Lip base elongated and connate to the base of the column, first narrowly angular then expanded and 3-lobed; with two large oblong, spreading lateral lobes, the mid-lobe narrowed at the base, bifid, the divisions oval-obtuse, sometimes with a small appendage in between, disk, with a longitudinal swelling in the middle, overall 45 - 47 mm long, 47 - 49 mm wide; spur at first shortly angular to the lip base then pendent, indistinctly swollen in the lower quarter, then narrowed at the tip, 16 - 19 cm long, 2.8 - 3.1 mm in diam. Column in a horizontal plane 26- 28mm long, 10 -11 mm wide, with two parallel rostellum arms for a quarter its length, mid-lobe forming a nose-like protrusion, staminodes elongate, hidden below the rostellum; pollinia 2, composed of a small disc-like viscidium and a long needle-like stipe up to 27 mm long running in a groove along the column, the pollen masses enclosed in a pair of anther loculae in the base of the hood of the column.
Etymology:
Named for Christa Sieder, co-finder of the new species.
Habitat:
Seasonally dry grassland on basement rock, water seepage areas on basalt rock, in crevices and shallow pockets of humus, around 600 m, in full sun. Growing sympatrically with Cynorkis lentiginosa and Cynorkis siederi.
Notes:
This very large-flowered species is instantly recognisable by the broad 5 cm white lip and long pendent spur which can be over 19 cm long, the large single leaf and the 3- - 4-flowered inflorescence with a large distinct peduncle sheath in the upper third. It differs from Cynorkis gigas Schltr. (Schlechter 1924: 50), in section Gibbosorchis, in having an unspotted leaf, a longer 40 cm long, 2 - 4-flowered inflorescence, shorter bracts, 1/3 the length of the ovary, a lip with white rounded side lobes and a 16 - 19 cm long spur swollen in the apical third. Cynorkis gigas is the only species with which it could be confused but the differences in morphology and distribution.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus.
Distribution:
Known from two neighbouring localities in the Mahajanga province of Northern Madagascar.
References:
New species and nomenclatural changes in Cynorkis (Orchidaceae: Orchidoideae) from Madagascar and the Mascarenes, KEW BULLETIN (2017) 72: 38
