Clematepistephium smilacifolium
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| N.Hallé | ||||||||||||
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| Clematepistephium smilacifolium | ||||||||||||
| ( Rchb.f. ) N. Hallé |
The plant Clematepistephium smilacifolium from the family of orchids (Orchidaceae) is exclusively on the island of New Caledonia is home. It is an evergreen liana that climbs up to the canopy with its twisting shoot.
description
Clematepistephium smilacifolium has roots in the humus layer, the roots are long, thick and brittle. They only appear at the base of the rung. Young plants grow upright, but not yet climbing. In older plants, the internodes are elongated to 10 to 22 cm, with a diameter of the stem axis of 0.3 to 0.5 cm. The plants can reach a length of more than 8 m, they are branched, at the base older plants are somewhat woody. In contrast to the related lianas from the genus Vanilla , they do not climb with the help of aerial roots, but instead wind around the respective support. The leaves sit on a 1 to 2.5 cm long petiole, which includes the shoot with its base. The leaf blade is oval to lanceolate, rounded at the base, slightly extended at the tip, but blunt. It measures 10 to 22 cm in length and 4 to 10 cm in width. The leathery leaves have a reticulate, clearly visible veining.
The flowering period extends from December to February. The flowers are three to 17 in slightly branched racemes at the end of the shoot and in leaf axils. The leaves on flowering parts of the shoot become gradually smaller towards the tip. The bracts are 0.2 cm long, triangular in shape and pointed to a point. The ovary is three-chambered, longitudinally ribbed on the surface, and slightly flared at the tip. The dark red flowers reach a diameter of up to 4 cm. The petals are free, the three sepals are elliptical and up to 3.4 cm long. The also elliptical petals are not widely spread, they are keeled on the back. The lip is three-lobed, with the front lobe divided into two again. Along the lip runs in the middle a row with rigid hair and scales directed towards the base. The column is long and curved, at its end it carries the stamen, which is bent by more than 90 ° relative to the column axis . The stamen is hood-shaped surrounded by tissue of the column (clinandrium), which extends laterally wing-like to next to the scar . The pollen in the two-chambered stamen is present as free, not stuck together, individual pollen grains. The capsule fruit is elongated, with six longitudinal ribs. The seeds have a wing that runs around the embryo.
distribution
Clematepistephium smilacifolium is endemic to New Caledonia. The plants grow all over the island at altitudes of 150 to 1200 meters in moist forests.
Systematics and botanical history
Clematepistephium smilacifolium is classified within the subfamily Vanilloideae in the tribe Vanilleae . Sister taxon is the Eriaxis rigida , which is also restricted to New Caledonia , these two together form the sister taxon to the South American genus Epistephium .
Clematepistephium smilacifolium was first described by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach in 1877 . Nicolas Hallé established his own genus for this species called Clematepistephium in 1977 . The name Clematepistephium is made up of clema , "tendril", and Epistephium , the previous generic name for this plant. The specific epithet smilacifolium compares the leaves with those of the genus Smilax .
literature
- Nicolas Hallé: Orchidacées . In: A. Aubréville, Jean.-F. Leroy (Ed.): Flore de la Nouvelle-Calédonie . tape 8 , 1977, ISBN 2-85654-152-6 , pp. 403-406 .
- Alec M. Pridgeon, Phillip Cribb, Mark W. Chase, Finn Rasmussen (Eds.): Genera Orchidacearum. Orchidoideae (Part 2). Vanilloideae . tape 3/2 . Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford 2003, ISBN 0-19-850711-9 , pp. 299-302 .
- Société Néo-Calédonienne d'Orchidophilie (Ed.): Orchidées indigènes de Nouvelle-Calédonie . 1995, ISBN 2-9509530-0-X , pp. 56-57 .