Arpophyllum
| Arpophyllum | ||||||||||||
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Arpophyllum giganteum |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Arpophyllum | ||||||||||||
| La Llave & Lex. |
The genus arpophyllum from the family of orchids (Orchidaceae) comprises only three species , all of which occur in Central America. The plants usually grow epiphytically or on rocks. They are occasionally cultivated because of their beautiful flowers .
description
All species of this genus form sprouts at a short distance from a creeping rhizome . These are about ten to 20 centimeters long and only slightly thickened in a spindle shape, they consist of several internodes . The rhizome and shoot are surrounded by membranous, dry lower leaves. At the tip of the pseudobulbs there is a leaf . The leaves are long, lanceolate and folded along the midrib. They are leathery to fleshy, often curved in an arc.
The inflorescence (a cluster ) appears from a large flower sheath on the tip of the shoot. He bears many, unresolved , about one to 1.5 centimeters large flowers. The flower color is pink to purple-red. The sepals are oval, the petals are narrower. The lip is unlapped, slightly serrated on the edge, at the base the sides are rolled up around the column . At the bottom the lip has grown together with the column for a short distance and forms a small sack-like protuberance. The stamen sits at the end of the column, it contains eight oval pollinia . The ovary and the flower stalk are covered with glands or black scales.
The red color of the flowers and the gray-blue color of the pollinia lead Dressler to suspect pollination by hummingbirds.
distribution
The species of the genus Arpophyllum occur from Mexico across Central America to Colombia and Venezuela. Arpophyllum jamaicense occurs in Jamaica. Withner gives altitudes of 1400 to 2400 meters for the different species.
Systematics
Within the subfamily Epidendroideae , the genus Arpophyllum is classified in the tribe Epidendreae and there in the subtribe Laeliinae . It is a basal group in this subtribe and was placed in its own subtribe Arpophyllinae by Dressler due to the shape of the pollinia (oval versus laterally compressed in most of the other Laeliinae). The anatomy of the roots is typical of Laeliinae, an indication that has been confirmed by genetic studies.
The name Arpophyllum is made up of the ancient Greek words άρπη harpe "sickle" (poetic) and φύλλον phyllon "leaf" and refers to the sickle-shaped leaves.
The type species Arpophyllum spicatum La Llave & Lex. Was described in 1825 .
Four species, one of which is split into three subspecies, are distinguished in this genus. The subspecies alpinum and medium of Arpophyllum giganteum have long been listed as separate species, while Dressler argues that there is a continuous spectrum from larger plants growing in the lowlands to smaller plants growing in higher altitudes, which does not allow any delimitation of three species. Arpophyllum jamaicense is seen by Withner as a synonym for Arpophyllum giganteum .
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Arpophyllum giganteum Hartw. ex Lindl. : With three subspecies:
- Arpophyllum giganteum subsp. alpinum (Lindl.) Dressler : It occurs from southeastern Mexico to Honduras.
- Arpophyllum giganteum subsp. giganteum (Syn .: Arpophyllum jamaicense Schltr. ): It occurs from Mexico to northwestern Venezuela and Jamaica.
- Arpophyllum giganteum subsp. medium (Rchb.f.) Dressler : It occurs from southern Mexico to Nicaragua.
- Arpophyllum laxiflorum Pfitzer : It occurs in Mexico.
- Arpophyllum spicatum La Llave & Lex .: It occurs from Mexico to Costa Rica.
literature
- Robert L. Dressler (1993): Phylogeny and Classification of the Orchid Family. P. 191. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-45058-6
- Robert L. Dressler (2000): Mesoamerican Orchid Novelties 3. In: Novon 10: 193-200. Online, accessed January 28, 2008
- Carl L. Withner (1998): The Cattleyas and their relatives . Vol. 5, pp. 7-11. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon ISBN 0-88192-456-3
Individual evidence
- ^ Cássio van den Berg et al. (2000): A phylogenetic analysis of Laeliinae (Orchidaceae) based on sequence data from internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA. Lindleyana 15 (2): 96-114. Online, accessed on January 28, 2008 ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937872-16-7 (reprint from 1996).
- ↑ a b c d e f Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Arpophyllum. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved July 6, 2018.
