Vanilla polylepis
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Vanilla polylepis Jardin du Roi |
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Vanilla polylepis is a species of plant in the genus Vanilla ( Vanilla ) in the orchid family (Orchidaceae). It grows as a climbing plant in tropical Africa.
description
Vanilla polylepis is an evergreen climber that reaches six to nine meters in length. The shoot reaches up to two centimeters in diameter and is grooved lengthways. The leaves are oval to lanceolate, rounded at the base and very short stalked, ending with a long pointed tip. They become six to 21 (to 24) inches long and 2.5 to eight inches wide.
Vanilla polylepis blooms in November. The unbranched inflorescence is up to seven centimeters long, it has 20 to 30 flowers that open one after the other and smell slightly of vanilla. The bracts are oval to triangular, pointed, 0.6 to 0.7 centimeters in size. Pedicel and ovary together measure four to six centimeters. The flowers are white or greenish white, the lip is yellowish at its base and has reddish markings in front (this can also be absent). Sepals and petals are lanceolate with the widest point above the middle, they end pointed. The dorsal sepal measures 3.5 to six centimeters long by 0.9 centimeters wide, the side sepals are slightly wider. The petals are slightly wider with one to 1.5 centimeters, keeled on the outside, they end in a small attached point. The lip is 4.5 to six inches long and three inches wide, it is indistinctly three-lobed, the front edge is wavy. On the lip there are up to twelve transverse rows of backward-facing scales; the anterior ones are linear and end unbranched or slightly toothed, the middle ones are oval to oblong and comb-shaped, the posterior ones are covered with fine papillae . The column is three to 4.5 centimeters long and two thirds of its length is fused with the lip. The cylindrical capsule fruit is up to 15 centimeters long and 1.5 centimeters in diameter. Two distinct grooves run along the fruit.
distribution
Vanilla polylepis occurs in southern Africa: it was found in Angola , Malawi , Kenya , Congo , Zambia , Zimbabwe and Tanzania . It prefers to grow in places that are well supplied with water, for example in wooded valleys and gorges, on streams, in gallery forests or on the edge of moist forests. This orchid grows at altitudes of 1200 to 1650 meters.
Systematics and botanical history
Vanilla polylepis was first described by Summerhayes in 1951 . The name polylepis refers to the various scales found on the lip. Summerhayes compared it primarily with Vanilla imperialis , but also with Vanilla africana and Vanilla ramosa . According to Portères , it differs significantly from Vanilla imperialis , but underlines the similarity to Vanilla africana .
Within the genus Vanilla , Vanilla polylepis is classified in the subgenus Xanata and there in the section Thetya , which contains all species of the Paleotropic . Like Summerhayes, Soto Arenas and Cribb see Vanilla imperialis as their closest relatives, furthermore Vanilla grandifolia and Vanilla ochyrae .
literature
- Le Vanillier et la Vanille dans le Monde . In: Gilbert Bouriquet (ed.): Encyclopédie Biologique . tape XLVI . Paul Lechevalier, Paris 1954.
- Mark A. Hyde, Bart Wursten: Species information: Vanilla polylepis . In: Flora of Zimbabwe . 2006 ( zimbabweflora.co.zw ).
- Isobyl la Croix, Phillip Cribb: Vanilla polylepis . In: Flora Zambesiaca . tape 1 , no. 1 , 1995 ( apps.kew.org ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Roland Portères: Le genre Vanilla et ses espèces. In: Le Vanillier et la Vanille dans le Monde. Pp. 202-203.
- ↑ a b Mark A. Hyde, Bart Wursten: Species information: Vanilla polylepis. In: Flora of Zimbabwe. ( zimbabweflora.co.zw ).
- ↑ a b c d Isobyl la Croix, Phillip Cribb: Vanilla polylepis. In: Flora Zambesiaca. Volume 11, No. 1. ( apps.kew.org ).
- ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Vanilla polylepis. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved May 20, 2020.
- ^ Summerhayes: New Orchids of Africa . In: Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University . tape 14 , no. 9 , 1951, pp. 219 ( botanicus.org ).
- ↑ Miguel A. Soto Arenas, Phillip Cribb: A new infrageneric classification and synopsis of the genus Vanilla Plum. ex Mill. (Orchidaceae: Vanillinae) . In: Lankesteriana . tape 9 , no. 3 , 2010, p. 385 ( ucr.ac.cr [PDF; 692 kB ]).