Stenoglottis inandensis G.McDonald & D.G.A.Styles, Orchids S. Africa 39(2): 10 (2008).
Description:
Lithophytic or terrestrial. Leaves 6-10, lanceolate to linear, concolourous green or sparsely spotted with brown or maroon, margins flat, entire, up to 12.0 x 1.8 cm. Inflorescence up to 48 cm tall, with 15-30 flowers; sheaths unspotted. Bracts cordate, acute to acuminate, unspotted, sheathing or recurved, always shorter than the ovaries, 6.0-8.0 x 2.3-5.0 mm. Flowers white to pale pink, often spotted with a darker shade of pink or purple on all parts or labellum only; not self-pollinating. Sepals ovate, acute to obtuse, dorsal concave, laterals oblique, 5.0-7.5 x 2.7-5.5 mm, subequal. Petals ovate, oblique, acute, 4.2-6.5 x 3-4.5 mm. Labellum spurred; oblong to obovate in outline, 8.6-18 x 4.2-7.4 mm; side lobes shallowly incised to deeply divided; midlobe attenuate, longer than or subequal to side lobes; spur saccate, 1.4-3.2 mm x 0.8-1.4 mm at the apex, without nectar. Column up to 2.5 mm long; stigmatic arms suberect or parallel to labellum in mature flowers, curving outward; auricles clavate, up to 0.8 mm x 0.6 mm at the apex, projecting beyond the anther between the pollinia and stigmas. Ovary 12-22 mm long.
Habitat:
Stenoglottis inandensis is restricted to KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where it is known from several scattered colonies on Inanda Mountain and Table Mountain at elevations of 600-900 m. It occurs in forests or forest margins in deep or partial shade, most commonly as a lithophyte on boulders or on ledges and crevices along south-facing cliff faces, occasionally as a terrestrial in shallow soil.
Phenology:
It flowers January-April and is not self-pollinating.
Notes:
Stenoglottis inandensis is morphologically and phylogenetically distinct from the other spurred taxa. It is a rare and locally restricted species that was previously known (from herbarium records) only from the type locality at Inanda Mountain; the population at Table Mountain (~25 km northwest of Inanda Mountain and ~15 km east of Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal) was previously regarded as S. woodii. However, a specimen from this locality (Phillips 22) included in the phylogenetic analysis of Phillips & Bytebier (2020) was sister to S. inandensis accessions from Inanda Mountain (Young 2510 and Young 2512). Collectively, the phylogenetic position of these populations is closer to the spurless S. fimbriata and S. longifolia than to the clade containing S. woodii and S. macloughlinii. The plants from the Table Mountain population also share several morphological characteristics (see ‘diagnostic characters’) with the Inanda Mountain plants that collectively distinguish them from the other spurred species. Consequently, the circumscription of S. inandensis has been expanded here to encompass this population.
Distribution:
KwaZulu-Natal
References:
Gavin McDonald, A Review of the Genus Stenoglottis Lindley; A taxonomic revision of Stenoglottis (Orchideae, Orchidoideae, Orchidaceae),Phytotaxa 456 (3): 219–243, 02 September 2020. By Dean P. Phillips & Benny Bytebier: POWO (2022). "Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/ Retrieved 20 November 2022."
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