Eulophia seychellarum Rolfe ex Summerh., Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1928: 393 (1928).
Homotypic Names:
Eulophidium seychellarum (Rolfe ex Summerh.) Summerh., Bull. Jard. Bot. État Bruxelles 27: 402 (1957).
Oeceoclades seychellarum (Rolfe ex Summerh.) Garay & P.Taylor, Bot. Mus. Leafl. 24: 272 (1976).
Description:
Vegetatively the plants of Oeceoclades seychellarum are identical with those of Oeceoclades lanceata. The two may be kept apart on account of the differences in the floral structures, especially in the shape and proportion of the lip. Midlobe of lip reniform in outline, one-fourth the length of the entire lip; lateral lobes broadly rounded at apex. Its sepals and petals are yellowish-white, while the labellum is white with some streaks.
Habitat :
Oeceoclades seychellarum is a terrestrial orchid species in the genus Oeceoclades that was endemic to the island of Mahé in the Seychelles but is now considered to be extinct.
This species is only represented by the type specimen, collected in May 1902 from the Cascade Estate on the island of Mahé at an elevation of 900 feet (270 m) in what was then a mountain forest.[1][3] The location from which the type specimen was collected is now degraded by human activity and invasive plants. Oeceoclades seychellarum was listed as being cultivated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1905, but not after that date.
Notes :
It was first described by the English botanist V.S. Summerhayes in 1928 as Eulophia seychellarum, a name that Summerhayes based on an unpublished manuscript name provided by Robert Allen Rolfe. Summerhayes later moved the species to the genus Eulophidium in 1957 and it was again transferred to the genus Oeceoclades in 1976 by Leslie Andrew Garay and Peter Taylor. Garay and Taylor noted that this species is similar to O. lanceata in vegetative morphology, but these species differ in floral characteristics, especially in the shape and proportions of the labellum. The midlobe of the labellum in Oeceoclades seychellarum is proportionally shorter than that of O. lanceata when compared to the length of the entire labellum.
Distribution:
Seychelles (Mahé)
References:
Summerhayes, V. S. 1928. New plants from the Seychelles. Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Gardens, Kew), 1928(10): 388-395 ; Garay, L.A., and P. Taylor. 1976. The genus Oeceoclades Lindl. Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University 24(9): 249-274; Expansion of the orchid genus Eulophia (Eulophiinae; Epidendroideae) to include Acrolophia, Cymbidiella, Eulophiella, Geodorum, Oeceoclades and Paralophia by Mark W. Chase, André Schuiteman & Pankaj Kumar. Phytotaxa 491 (1); POWO (2022). "Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/ Retrieved 26 November 2022."
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