Apostasia ramifera
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| SCChen & KYLang |
Apostasia ramifera is a kind of the genus Apostasia and thus belongs to the family of orchid (Orchidaceae). The small, herbaceous plants grow endemically on the Chinese island of Hainan .
description
Apostasia ramifera forms ascending or prostrate shoots from a rhizome that are up to 13 cm long. The stem axis measures 2 mm in diameter. At the base it is surrounded by 5 to 10 mm long lower leaves. The shoot is branched at the upper end, the individual side branches are 1 to 3 cm long. The numerous, regularly arranged leaves are oval to oval-lanceolate. Their length is 1.4 to 2.6 cm with a width of 0.4 to 0.8 cm, rarely up to 1.2 cm. The leaf base tapers into a 0.7 to 1.5 cm long petiole that encompasses the shoot. On the leaf blade nine to 13 longitudinal veins stand out clearly. The tip of the leaf is drawn together to a point over a length of 1 to 2 mm.
The racemose inflorescences arise from leaf axils in the upper area of the shoot, they are sloping to drooping. Each inflorescence bears one to four yellow flowers about 5 mm in diameter. Peduncle and ovary together measure 8 to 11 mm, the ovary is somewhat triangular in cross section. The bracts are oval to lanceolate and measure 2 to 4 mm. Sepals and petals hardly differ, they are each 1 mm wide and 4 to 5 mm long, they have a small tip. The column arises from two fertile stamens , a staminodium and the stylus , which are all fused together at the base. The free part of the stamens measures about 0.5 millimeters, the anthers are narrow oval and protrude slightly beyond the style. The staminodium is shorter than the style, the free end is very short. The free part of the stylus is about 3 mm, at the end it has the slightly widened scar .
Occurrence
Apostasia ramifera is endemic to southwest Hainan. The locations are in the shade of dense forests. Apostasia ramifera is considered to be threatened in terms of its population.
Botanical history
The first specimens of Apostasia ramifera were collected in 1959 in Ledong County . It was first described in 1986. The name ramifera refers to the branched stem axis. The first descriptors compare it with Apostasia odorata and Apostasia wallichii . In addition to the stamens, these two species also have a staminodium and are classified within the genus Apostasia in the Apostasia section . The species of the other section, Adactylus , have no staminodium.
literature
- Sing-Chi Chen, Kai-Yung Lang: A revision of the orchid subfamily Apostasioideae in China . In: Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica . tape 24 , no. 5 , 1986, pp. 339 ( online [PDF; 261 kB ]).
- Xinqi Chen, Stephan W. Gale, Phillip J. Cribb: Apostasia . In: Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven (Ed.): Flora of China . tape 25 . Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, S. 21 ( efloras.org - 1994+).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Javier Francisco-Ortega, Fa-Guo Wang, Zhong-Sheng Wang, Fu-Wu Xing, Hong Liu, Han Xu, Wei Xu: Endemic seed plant species from Hainan Island: a checklist . In: The Botanical Review . 2010 ( thefreelibrary.com ).