Abstract
Holcoglossum is a genus comprising about 10 species found mainly in Southwest China, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. It was established by Schlechter (1919) based on Saccolabium quasipinifolium Hayata from Taiwan. The genus is similar in floral structure to Aerides, Papilionanthe and Vanda, from which several species were transferred to Holcoglossum. As pointed out by Seidenfaden (1988), it is very hard to define clear boundaries between these genera even though the circumscription of Holcoglossum has been made by Garay (1972), Tsi (1982, 1999) and Christenson (1987). Recently the number of lamellae on the mid-lobe of the lip, flower size, and the number of flowers per inflorescence have been used to distinguish the species of Holcoglossum (Seidenfaden 1988; Christenson 1987, 1998; Yukawa 2000). Some problems remain, however; for example, the lamellae on the lip in Holcoglossum kimballianum vary greatly in number (Seidenfaden 1988). It seems that the shapes of midlobe, side lobes, spur, and the appendages on the mid-lobe are of more value in distinguishing species. This conclusion is based on our two years of fieldwork in Southwest China, and study of material of Holcoglossum in E, IBSC, K, KUN, P, PE, and WU. It was during these studies that the new species described below was identified.
Published Version
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