New species of the genus Cranichis (Orchidaceae, Cranichidinae) from Colombia

Abstract

Two new species of the Neotropical genus Cranichis are described: Cranichis carlos-parrae Szlach. & Kolan. and Cranichis zarucchii Szlach. & Kolan. Both species are known exclusively from the Colombian Andes, where they were found growing in montane forests and paramo above 2,550 m of elevation. Each species is described and illustrated, and the habitat and distribution data are provided. A distribution map of the new species is presented. A dichotomous key for identification Colombian species of Cranichis is provided.

Full text

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
New species of the genus Cranichis (Orchidaceae, Cranichidinae)
from Colombia
Dariusz L. Szlachetko
•
Marta Kolanowska
Received: 9 December 2012 / Accepted: 25 February 2013 / Published online: 22 March 2013
 The Author(s) 2013. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract Two new species of the Neotropical genus
Cranichis are described: Cranichis carlos-parrae Szlach.
& Kolan. and Cranichis zarucchii Szlach. & Kolan. Both
species are known exclusively from the Colombian Andes,
where they were found growing in montane forests and
paramo above 2,550 m of elevation. Each species is
described and illustrated, and the habitat and distribution
data are provided. A distribution map of the new species is
presented. A dichotomous key for identification Colombian
species of Cranichis is provided.
Keywords Andes  Biodiversity  Cranichis 
New species  Paramo  Taxonomy
Introduction
The genus Cranichis was described by Olof Swartz in 1788
without designating the generitype, what was standard pro-
cedure at that time. The type species—C. muscosa Sw.—was
selected over 150 years later (Acun
˜
a 1939). The taxonomic
separateness of the genus is clear taking into consideration
both morphological (Dressler 1993, Szlachetko and Rut-
kowski 2000) and molecular (A
´
lvarez-Molina and Cameron
2009) studies. The only problematic species of Cranichis
was C. fertilis (F. Lehm. and Kraenzl.) Schltr. which differs
from other Cranichidinae by the triangular stigma, bifid
rostellum and lack of hamulus (Garay and Romero-Gonza
´
lez
1999). Those morphological differences indicated the
transfer of the species into a separate genus Exalaria Garay
and G.A. Romero-Gonzalez. The creation of this monotypic
genus was validated by the results of genetic research
(A
´
lvarez-Molina and Cameron 2009).
With the exclusion of Exalaria, Cranichis is easily
distinguished from other cranichioid orchids by the villous-
hairy roots, the distinctly petiolate, suberect or arcuately
spreading leaves, non-resupinate flowers, petals much
narrower than sepals, and the fleshy, cochleate lip, often
with conspicuously marked, coloured reticulate veins. The
gynostemium is relatively massive, often swollen at the
apex, without column-foot. The motile anther is oblong to
ovate, two-chambered. The inconspicuous caudiculae are
formed from the apices of pollinia. The clinandrium is
usually thick, massive, spacious. The single viscidium is
thick and relatively small and the hamulus is usually
elongate, finger-like, thick, directed towards the anther
(Szlachetko and Rutkowski 2000).
Species of Cranichis grows as terrestrial or lithophytic
plants in lowlands as well as in montane forest, usually in
humus and Sphagnum tussocks. Some populations were
reported as subepiphytic. The altitudinal amplitude of the
genus ranges from 350 up to 3,000 m a.s.l. (Carnevali and
Ramı
´
rez-Morillo
2003; Cribb 2003).
Currently about 60 species distributed from Florida and
Mexico to Bolivia and Argentina are included in Cranichis.
In the Colombian orchid flora 19 species of the genus were
found so far. Most of them, except C. muscosa and C.
parvula, were reported from the submontane and montane
regions of the country (Ortiz and Uribe 2007).
During the studies on Colombian Cranichidinae two
distinctive species of the genus were found and are
described here as new.
Cranichis carlos-parrae Szlach. & Kolan. sp. nov.
(Fig. 1).
D. L. Szlachetko  M. Kolanowska (&)
Department of Plant Taxonomy and Nature Conservation,
University of Gdan
´
sk, UL. Wita Stwosza 59,
80-308 Gdan
´
sk, Poland
e-mail: martakolanowska@wp.pl
123
Plant Syst Evol (2013) 299:979–983
DOI 10.1007/s00606-013-0777-y

This species somewhat resembles C. gibbosa, but it is
easily distinguishable from the latter and all other
Colombian Cranichis by the form of lateral sepals which
possess a prominent basal lobule, very narrow, glabrous
petals and lip which is essentially bipartite with the upper
part being broadly ovate-cordate, acute.
Type: C. Romero 88-Colombia, Cundinamarca, Parque
Nacional Natural Pa
´
ramo de Chingaza. Bosque de Encillo,
alrededores de quebrada Malvinas, alt. 3,333 m (24 Sep
2000), (COL! 490311 holotype).
Plants to 20 cm tall. Leaves up to six, basal, rosulate,
petiolate to sessile; petiole up to 1 cm long, narrow; blade
up to 3.5 cm long and 1.2 cm wide, lanceolate, narrowly
lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, acute. Scape erect, delicate,
glandular in the upper part, enclothed in four sheaths.
Inflorescence to 5 cm long, densely many-flowered.
Flowers medium-sized, inconspicuous. Floral bracts to
13 mm long, lanceolate, acuminate, sparsely glandular.
Pedicel and ovary up to 7 mm long, sparsely glandular.
Sepals glabrous. Dorsal sepal 7 mm long, 2 mm wide,
lanceolate, acute to subacute, 1-nerved. Petals 6 mm long,
1.3 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, acute, strongly falcate,
glabrous along margins, 1-nerved. Lateral sepals 7.5 mm
long, 5 mm wide, obliquely ovate, acute to shortly acu-
minate, somewhat oblique, basally expanded into auricu-
late lobule, 3-nerved. Lip bipartite; basal part 2 mm long,
1.5 mm wide, sessile, saccate, somewhat compressed lat-
erally; apical part 4 mm long and wide, cordate-ovate in
outline, acute, margins somewhat wavy. Gynostemium
3.8 mm long.
Etymology: Dedicated to the Curator of Colombian
National Herbarium (COL) in Bogota
´
, Dr Carlos Parra.
Ecology: This species was found in the paramo and
subparamo, often near the small lakes. Some populations
were reported from dwarf forest. Alt. 2,550–3,350 m.
Distribution: So far this species is known only from the
Colombian Central and Eastern Cordilleras Fig. 2.
Other representative specimens: G. Huertas and L.A.
Camargo 6250-Colombia, Boyaca
´
, Mpio. de Ramiriqui.
Cordillera Oriental. Camino hacia la Laguna Negra. Planta
aquatica, alt. 2,580 m (12 Oct 1965), (COL!); O. Rangel
2497-Colombia, Cauca, Las Flautas. Carretera Toez-
Tacueyo, km 45–46, alt. 3,180 m (10 Sep 1980), (COL!);
Idrobo, Pinto & Bischler 3897-Colombia, Cauca, Macizo
Fig. 1 Cranichis carlos-parrae Szlach. and Kolan. a dorsal sepal,
b lateral sepal, c petal, d lip e lip (side view) Bars a–c 5 mm,
d–e 2 mm [Zarucchi, Brant and J. Castano 5694 (COL!); drawn by
P. Baranow]
Fig. 2 Distribution of C. carlos-parrae (square) and C. zarucchii
(circle) in Colombia
980 D. L. Szlachetko, M. Kolanowska
123

Colombiano. Alrededores de la laguna de Cusiyaco. Bos-
ques, alt. 3,200 m (7–12 Oct 1958), (COL!); C. Romero
80-Colombia, Cundinamarca, Parque Nacional Natural
Pa
´
ramo de Chingaza. Costado izquierda de la carretera que
del Embalse del Chuza conduce al campamento Montere-
dondo, alt. 3,010 m (20 Sep 2000), (COL!); Schneider
544-Colombia, Cundinamarca, Gachancipe, alt. 2,600 m (1
Jan 1951), (COL!); Knoth 3325-Colombia, Narin
˜
o, Carre-
tera del Norte, km 7, alt. 3,000 m (20 Jul 1951), (COL!);
Knoth 3335-Colombia, Narin
˜
o, Carretera Sur. Region
Yacuanquer, alt. 2,900–3,000 m (29 Apr 1951), (COL!);
Cuatrecasas 11957-Colombia, Narin
˜
o, Entre El Encano y
Pasto, vertiente occidental de la Cordillera. Bosque
residuals entre Pa
´
ramo del Ta
´
bano y Laguna, alt.
2,700–2,900 m (11 Jan 1941), (COL!); M.B. and R. Foster-
Colombia, Putumayo. Tabanel, above La Cocha. Paramo
cloud forest, alt. 3,300 m (31 Oct 1946), (COL!).
Taxonomic notes: This species can be distinguished
from Colombian members of the genus Cranichis by
having very narrow dorsal sepal and petals, lateral sepals
with expanded basal outer margin forming a kind of
lobe and peculiar lip morphology. Lip is bipartite; its basal
part is saccate, laterally compressed and apical part is
spread, somewhat conduplicate, ovate-cordate with acute
apex.
Cranichis zarucchii Szlach. & Kolan. sp. nov. (Fig. 3).
Species similar to C. engelii, but dorsal sepal 3-nerved,
petals with marginal ciliae shorter than half width of petals
and lip margins somewhat wavy at the base only. It differs
from closely related C. cylindrostachys by nervation of
sepals, form of petals and proportion in lip lenght versus
width.
Type: Zarucchi, Brant and J. Castano 5694-Colombia,
Antioquia, Mpio. Frontino. Km 12 of road Nutibara-Murri.
Disturbed wet/very wet montane vegetation, roadside,
645
0
N, 7622
0
W, alt. 2,010 m (23 Sep 1987), (COL!
317493 holotype).
Plants to 50 cm tall. Leaves 1–2, basal, petiolate; petiole
to 11 cm long, narrow; blade up to 9 cm long and 2.5 cm
wide, triangular-ovate, acute. Scape erect, delicate, gla-
brous in the lower half, densely glandular below and within
inflorescence, enclothed distantly in 3–5 sheaths. Inflores-
cence to 12 cm long, many-flowered. Flowers small,
inconspicuous. Floral bracts 5 mm long, lanceolate, acu-
minate, glabrous. Subsessile ovary up to 9 mm long, den-
sely and very minutely papillate. Sepals glabrous. Dorsal
sepal 4.2 mm long, 2.1 mm wide, oblong-ovate, subobtuse,
somewhat cochleate in the centre, obscurely 3-nerved.
Petals 4 mm long, 0.9 mm wide, oblong- or linear-lance-
olate, subacute to subobtuse, falcate, densely and softly
ciliate along both margins except base and apex, 1-nerved.
Lateral sepals 4.2 mm long, 2.1 mm wide, obliquely ovate
to elliptic-ovate, somewhat acuminate, acute to subacute,
slightly concave, 1-nerved. Lip 3.5 mm long, 2.7 mm
wide, elliptic-ovate in outline, widest just below the mid-
dle, apex truncate with short, triangular, acute apiculus,
margins somewhat wavy at base, lamina shallowly
cochleate below the centre, nerves three, protruding, pro-
fusely branching, sometimes secondarily branches can be
observed. Gynostemium 2 mm long.
Etymology: Dedicated to James Zarucchi, the co-col-
lector of the type specimen of this species.
Ecology: This species grows in a pluvial subparamo as
well as in the wet and very wet montane areas. Alt.
2,700–2,800 m a.s.l.
Distribution: So far this species is known only from the
Colombian Andes Fig. 2.
Other representative specimens: Zarucchi, Betancur and
F.J. Roldan 5177-Colombia, Antioquia, Mpio. Sonso
´
n, Km
11 of road Sonso
´
n-Narin
˜
o. 25 km from Narino, near km
post 151 marking distance from Bogota
´
. Pluvial subparamo
vegetation. 542
0
N, 75 15
0
W, alt. 2,780 m (1 Apr 1987),
(COL!); G. Lozano C. and J. Rivera 2211-Colombia,
Antioquia, Mpio. Sonso
´
n, Sobre la carretera hacia Narin
˜
o.
Alt. 2740 m (5 May 1972), (COL!); Schneider 11/1
p.p.-Colombia, Cundinamarca, Alrededores de Bogota
´
.
Fig. 3 Cranichis zarucchii Szlach. and Kolan. a dorsal sepal,
b lateral sepal, c petal, d lip e lip (side view) Bars: 2 mm. C. Romero
88-Colombia (COL!); drawn by P. Baranow]
New species of the genus Cranichis 981
123

Quebrada de El Chico, alt. 2,700–2800 m (18 May 1944),
(COL!).
Taxonomic notes: C. zarucchii appears to be similar to
both C. engelii Rchb.f. and C. cylindrostachys Schltr. It is
easily separable from the former by having 3-nerved dorsal
sepal (vs. 1-nerved), petals with marginal ciliae shorter
than half width of petals (vs.ciliae almost as long as width
of petals) and lip margins somewhat wavy at the base only
(vs.lip margins prominently wavy). In addition, C. zaruc-
chii differs from C. engelii by the densely glandular scape
(vs.scape glabrous) and the subsessile lip (vs.lip clawed).
The lateral sepals are widest below the middle (vs.widest
near the middle in C. engelii) and the petals are widest near
the middle (vs.widest below the apex in C. engelii). Unlike
C. zarucchii, C. cylindrostachys has 1-nerved dorsal sepal,
obscurely 2-nerved lateral sepals, petals linear-lanceolate
with glabrous margins and oblong-elliptic lip (Fig. 4).
Key to the Colombian species of Cranichis.
1 Petals with long hairs (threadlike, multi-cellular
outgrowths from the epidermis) along the margins
…….. C. wageneri
1* Petals without long hairs on the margins …….2
2 Petals ciliate (with a hair-like glandular projections of
the cell surface) ….. 3
2* Petals with entire or slightly erose margins, glabrous
…… 13
3 Scape glabrous ……… 4
3* Scape glandular or glandular-pubescent ……….. 7
4 Lip ovate-elliptic …….. C. crumenifera
4* Lip ovate to suborbicular ……….5
5 Petals from a short claw broadly oblanceolate to
elliptic …. C. polyantha
5* Petals linear-ligulate to oblong-oblanceolate …….6
6 Lip midvein unbranched ……. C. engelii
6* All lip veins branching ……. C. muscosa
7 Ovary glandular or papillate …….8
7* Ovary glabrous …….10
8 Lip without any additional projections on the surface
…….9
8* Lip with spiculate pustules or knob-like projections
……. C. schlimii
9 Lateral sepals obscurely 3-veined, lip obtuse at the
apex ……. C. brachyblephara
9* Lateral sepals obscurely 1-veined, lip truncate at the
apex with short, triangular, acute apiculus …… C.
zarucchii
10 Inflorescence elongate, raceme 8–12 cm long, longer
than the leaf blade …….
C. antioquiensis
10* Raceme up to 5–7 cm long, shorter than the leaf
blade …….11
11 Ovary about 5–6 mm long, flowers about 3 mm in
diameter …….12
11* Flowers about 3.5 mm in diameter, ovary up to 11
mm long ……. C. ciliata
12 Sepals attenuate towards apex, petals minutely ciliate
along margins, lip longer than wide ……. C. pleioneura
Fig. 4 Comparison of the dissected perianths of Cranichis zarucchii (1), C. cylindrostachys (2) and C. engelii (3) [drawn by P. Baranow and A.
Kro
´
l]
982 D. L. Szlachetko, M. Kolanowska
123

12* Sepals rounded at apex, petals pubescent along
margins, lip as long as wide ……. C. polyblephara
13 Petals margins erose ……. C. picta
13* Petals margins entire …….14
14 Leaves narrowly oblanceolate to lanceolate …….15
14* Leaves ovate, ovate-lanceolate to orbicular …….16
15 Lateral sepals obliquely oblong-triangular, outer
margin not forming a lobe …. C. lehmanniana
15* Lateral sepals obliquely ovate with expanded basal
outer margin forming a kind of lobe …… C. carlos-
parrae
16 Leaves usually two, often one of them is much larger
than another …… . C. diphylla
16* Leaves several, subequal in size …….17
17 Petals elliptic ……. C. gibbosa
17* Petals lanceolate to oblong-oblanceolate …….18
18 Floral bracts subequal or longer than ovary …….. C.
lehmannii
18* Floral bracts shorter than ovary …….19
19 Leaf blade elliptic to orbicular; petiole 0.4 cm long;
blade 0.9–6 9 0.6–2 cm ……. C. tenuis
19* Leaf blade broadly ovate to broadly elliptic; petiole
at least 1 cm long; blade 4–8 9 2–4 cm ……….20
20 Petiole up to 2.5 cm long, lip unlobed…….. C.
parvula
20* Petiole up to 9 cm long, lip 3-lobed at apex ……….
C. pulvinifera
Acknowledgments The curator and staff of the herbarium COL are
thanked for their kind hospitality and assistance during visits and for
making specimens available on loan. We are grateful to Przemysław
Baranow and Anna Kro
´
l for preparing the illustrations. The research
described here has been supported by the Polish Ministry of Science
and Higher Education (research grant no. 8124/B/PO1/2011/40).
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, dis-
tribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author(s) and the source are credited.
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