Cynorkis sanguinolenta Hermans, L.Gaut. & P.J.Cribb, Kew Bull. 72(3)-38: 17 (2017).
Description:
Terrestrial or lithophytic herb, up to 35 cm tall including inflorescence, forming small clumps or groups of plants. Tubers and roots not known. Stem short, partly underground, c. 1 - 2 cm long, with a solitary erect to arching radical leaf. Leaf glabrous, the central vein strongly keeled underneath, especially at the base, obtuse apically, up to 18 cm long, 12 mm wide but probably larger when mature, pale to midgreen, paler below, oval-oblong. Inflorescence green, up to 32 cm, 1.7 - 2.0 mm in diam., glabrous, produced from the new developing shoot, within the base of the unfurling leaf, with a peduncle sheath around the middle, c. 3 cm long; rachis secund sub-racemose, up to 14 flowers but generally fewer; floral bracts green sometimes a little hirsute on the exterior towards the apex, ovate-lanceolate, 12 mm long, 2 - 3 mm wide; slightly auriculate at the base, pedicel and ovary with very few scattered hairs, mainly at the apex, yellowish-green, almost straight, up to 55 mm long, 2 mm wide. Flowers variable in size with some forms substantially larger than others, the larger dimensions are measured from living specimens (Sieder et al. 6987), the smaller from the type: overall 26 - 40 mm long, 18 -33 mm wide, not including the spur; sepals and petals purple, the exterior papillose, lip pure white with the entire disk a distinct carmine continuing into the throat and the spur pinkish-purple, column dark purple with the rostellum white below, anthers darker. Dorsal sepal oblong, deeply concave and, together with the petals, forming a hood over the column, 7.5 - 9.7 mm long 3.4 - 4.1 mm wide, the base inflated; lateral sepals swept backwards against the ovary, concave, oblong to sickle-shaped, 9.1 - 9.6 mm long, 4.1 - 4.2 mm wide. Petals narrowly oblong-obovate, slightly curved apically, appressed to the inside of the dorsal sepal margins forming a narrow rim 9.3 - 9.4 mm long, 1.3 - 1.9 mm wide. Lip somewhat connate to the base of the column, lateral lobes a little smaller than the apical lobes, all deeply serrate around the anterior margins, with the disk slightly raised, overall 18 - 38 mm long, 15 - 27 mm wide; spur almost parallel with the ovary, somewhat sigmoid, subulate towards the end, up to 32 mm long, av. 1.2 mm in diam. Column in an almost horizontal plane 5.9 - 6.1 mm long 4.1 - 4.3 mm wide, with two parallel rostellum arms for almost half its length, mid-lobe forming a nose-like protrusion, staminodes club-shaped, hidden below the rostellum, anther loculi incurved, pollinia including the caudicle c. 5.5 mm long.
Etymology:
The name refers to the red blood-stained appearance of the flower.
Habitat:
Seasonally dry secondary grasslands on sandstone and white sands and erosion gullies in areas once dominated by semi-deciduous forest, up to 700 m elevation.
Notes:
This large-flowered species is distinct by its large single leaf, tall secund raceme of up to 14 flowers, the proportionally very large white lip with a distinct carmine area towards the base, the deeply serrate anterior margins of the lip and the somewhat sigmoid spur. The new species is allied to Cynorkis fimbriata H. Perrier ex Hermans (in Hermans et al. 2007: 291), section Lowiorchis, which has been found in the same area but whilst both have a typical deeply serrated lip there are considerable differences in both habit and flower: Cynorkis fimbriata has a long 5 - 7 cm leaf petiole, a linear lanceolate leaf, large leaf-like lower floral bracts (up to 20 mm long, 10 mm wide), bright purple flowers with the spur inflated in the apical third. Cynorkis sanguinolenta has a short 1 - 2 cm leaf petiole, a larger oval-oblong leaf, consistently short amplexicaul floral bracts (12 mm long, 2 - 3 mm wide), larger flower segments, including the lip which is pure white with a carmine base and a slightly sigmoid straight spur. In habit the new species also resembles Cynorkis anggustipetala Ridl. (Ridley 1885: 514), in section Gibbosorchis, but its rachis is not so densely flowered, its flowers are larger in all their parts and its lip is more deeply serrate at the margins.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus.
Distribution:
Known from three localities in the Antsiranana province of Northern Madagascar.
References:
New species and nomenclatural changes in Cynorkis (Orchidaceae: Orchidoideae) from Madagascar and the Mascarenes, KEW BULLETIN (2017) 72: 38
