The Reappearance of Odontochilus rotundifolius Blatter and Its Transfer to Aenhenrya Gopalan (Orchidaceae)

Abstract

Comparison of the types of Odontochilus rotundifolius Blatter and Aenhenrya agastyamalayana Gopalan establishes their conspecifity. An emended and amplified description of Aenhenrya is provided, and a new combination, A. rotundifolia (Blatter) Sathish & F. Rasmussen, is made. An unusual orchid with the characters of subtribe Goodyerinae, tribe Cranichideae in subfamily Spiranthoideae (sensu Dressler, 1993) was collected by one of us (CSK) in the Western Ghats in March 1993. It was obviously not a representative of any of the known genera of Goodyerinae. Scanning of the floristic literature revealed that Odontochilus rotundifolius, described by Blatter (1928) from an incomplete specimen, could very well be identical with our material. Subsequently, Gopalan (1994) published Aenhenrya agastyamalayana gen. et sp. nov. based on a collection from Tamil Nadu, evidently belonging to the same species. In February 1995 we received new live material collected by N. Sasidharan in the Periyar Tiger reserve in Kerala, close to the type locality of 0. rotundifolius in the High Wavy Mountains. Detailed study of the fresh collections establishes beyond doubt that all material belongs to the same species, necessitating a new combination in Aenhenrya. Aenhenrya rotundifolia (Blatter) Sathish & F. Rasmussen, comb. nov. Basionym: Odontochilus rotundifolius Blatter, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 32: 521. 1928. Anoectochilus rotundifolius (Blatter) Balakrishnan, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 63: 330. 1966. TYPE: India. Tamil Nadu: High Wavy Mountains, 1370-1680 m, May 1917, in dense evergreen forest, Hallberg & Blatter 25802 (holotype, K). Aenhenrya agastyamalayana Gopalan, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 90: 271. 1994 [1993]. Syn. nov. TYPE: India. Tamil Nadu: Tirunelveli Kattabomman District, Poonkulam, Agastyamalai Hills, 1120 m, 24 Apr. 1991, Gopalan 93224 (holotype, CAL; isotype, MH (157415-24)). The original description by Blatter (1928) is rather scanty and the illustration is crude. We can confirm many observations in the drawing and description by Gopalan (1994), but the description of the is incomplete and the pollinarium was missing from Gopalan's material. The characters associated with these structures are in fact the most interesting in the genus and are crucial for its taxonomic status. We take this opportunity to provide a more detailed illustration (Fig. 1) and a description of the column, stigma, pollinarium, and fruit based on fresh material: Column incurved, ca. 20 mm long including the ca. 15 mm long tapering rostellar projection (sterile extension of median stigma lobe). The fertile part of the stigma is a three-lobed papillose area, with two triangular lateral lobes at the base of the (Fig. IC) and a third narrowly triangular lobe extending ca. 3.8 mm up on an 8-10 mm long hornlike projection, which is minutely emarginate apically. This structure was referred to as the frontal of column by Blatter (1928) and sword-like of lip by Gopalan (1994). It is here interpreted as an extension of the lateral stigma lobes. The side lobes of the labellum clasp this structure, forming a narrow canal (Figs. IB, 2). The petals and the rostellum form an upper canal delimited by the lateral stigma lobe projection on the ventral side. Anther erect, almost basal at the dorsal side of the column, connective extended distally into a narrowly elliptic structure (Fig. 1D, E), about half as long as the rostellar projection (upper appendage in Gopalan, 1994). Pollinia 2, bipartite, sectile, pear-shaped, ca. 2 X 1 mm, attached to a straplike stipe, the stipe 12 x 0.7 mm, distally ending in an ovoid viscidium, the viscidium ca. 1.5 x 0.5 mm, with a papillose dorsal surface. The viscidium leaves a distinct ? wedge-shaped scar in the rostellum on removal. NovoN 7: 81-84. 1997. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.128 on Tue, 06 Sep 2016 05:14:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms