Cynorkis syringescens Hermans & P.J.Cribb, Kew Bull. 72(3)-38: 21 (2017).
Description:
Erect terrestrial herb, up to 28 cm high including the inflorescence, plants generally solitary. Tubers 1 - 2, elongate, surface woolly, c. 25 mm long, 15 mm wide, roots, fleshy, woolly c. 2 mm in diam. Stem very short, c. 20 mm long 10 mm in diam., enclosed by one or two thin scarious brown sheaths, with two or rarely one radical leaves. Leaves pale green, sub-erect, somewhat fleshy, conduplicate when developing, lanceolate-linear, acuminate, up to 20 cm long, 15 - 22 mm wide. Inflorescence emerging from the leaf axil, green, glabrous, up to 25 cm long, 1.8 - 2.1 mm in diam., with a lanceolate-subulate sheath in the middle, 25 - 28 mm long, 5 - 8 mm wide; rachis loosely racemose, up to 14 flowers but generally fewer; floral bracts green, brownish-red in the apical half, ovate-lanceolate 18 - 24 mm long, 5.9 - 7.1 mm wide; pedicel and ovary carrying a few glandular hairs, mainly towards the base, purplish-brown, almost straight, up to 35 mm long, 2 mm wide. Flowers overall c. 30 mm long, 20 mm wide, not including the spur, sepals green with the margins and apex dark reddish-brown, petals greenish-white with the margins mauve, lip mauve with the disk white, spur reddish-brown, column white, staminodes red-purple, anther dark green, base of the sepals with a few apiculate hairs. Dorsal sepal forming a hood with the petals, ovate, deeply concave, 9.0 - 9.2 mm long, 3.8 - 4.0 mm wide; lateral sepals spreading, ovate, 9.8 - 9.9 mm long, 4.4 - 4.5 mm wide. Petals loosely attached to the dorsal sepal margin, lanceolate, 8.9 - 9.1 mm long, 2.5 - 2.6 mm wide. Lip 4-lobed with a narrowed deflexed base and raised disk in between, lobes all of about the same size, ovate truncate, margins undulate and somewhat deflexed, overall 19 - 21 mm long, 19 - 20 mm wide; spur parallel with the ovary, narrowed at the base, then slightly inflated and acuminate towards the end, up to 32 mm long, c. 2 mm in diam. Column angular to almost vertical, 4.0 - 4.2 mm long 3.9 - 4.1 mm wide, with two short parallel rostellum arms for about 1=3 its length, curved upward, with a nose-like mid-lobe in between, staminodes below the base of the rostellum arm forming verrucose auricles, anther loculi oval, pollinia including the caudicle c. 6 mm long.
Etymology:
The epithet refers to its passing resemblance to the lilac (Syringa vulgaris L., Oleaceae) in the colour of the lip and somewhat pyramidal inflorescence.
Habitat:
Granite and quartz rocks in pockets of sand, amongst grasses in sub-humid degraded sclerophyllous woodland, amongst Tapia (Uapaca bojeri Baill.), c. 1500 m.
Notes:
The species is distinct by its somewhat fleshy, lanceolate-linear leaves; the medium-sized flowers with a 4-lobed lip which is mauve with a white disk, the base and lobes with the margins somewhat deflexed, lobe margins undulate, a spur about as long as the pedicellate ovary and the narrow mid-lobe of the column and slightly curved rostellum arms about 1=3 of the column length. It is similar in habit to the very widespread and variable Cynorkis speciosa Ridl. (Ridley 1886: 122) in section Gibbosorchis but the flowers are a different shape and colour. The flowers of the new species are generally fewer and smaller, the overall shape of the lip is almost rounded and about 20 mm long x 19 mm wide (vs elliptic and about 27 mm long x 21 mm wide in Cynorkis speciosa); the deflexed margins also set it apart. Cynorkis syringescens has a mauve blade and a white disk (the lip in Cynorkis speciosa can be white, pink or purple but almost invariably has a large distinct rectangle of deep purple or pink on the disk and base). The spur is of a similar size but is more inflated than in Cynorkis speciosa. The column and especially the mid-lobe are narrower and not as broad at the apex as in Cynorkis speciosa. It is also similar to Cynorkis fastigiata Thouars (1822: t3), another common variable and widespread species that grows in the same area; that has similar flower proportions, a white to pale violet-pink lip with a white disk and a darker coloured area in the throat only, the margins are more or less deflexed. The main differences with the new species are the generally single leaf which is ovate-lanceolate rather than lanceolate linear, the smaller size of the flowers and elliptic outline of the lip (average 12 mm long x 9 mm wide).
Cultivation:
As given for the genus.
Distribution:
Known only from a small highland area in Central Madagascar.
References:
New species and nomenclatural changes in Cynorkis (Orchidaceae: Orchidoideae) from Madagascar and the Mascarenes, KEW BULLETIN (2017) 72: 38
