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A new species of Cyclopogon (Orchidaceae: Spiranthinae) from Southwestern

Ecuador: Cyclopogon soniae-juaniorum

Article  in  Phytotaxa · November 2018

DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.376.5.2

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 Phytotaxa 376 (5): 201–206 ISSN 1179-3155 (print edition)
http://www.mapress.com/j/pt/
Article PHYTOTAXA
Copyright © 2018 Magnolia Press ISSN 1179-3163 (online edition)

https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.376.5.2

A new species of Cyclopogon (Orchidaceae: Spiranthinae) from southwestern

Ecuador: Cyclopogon soniae-juaniorum
BOSCO JAVIER ZAMBRANO ROMERO1 & RODOLFO SOLANO2
1
Centro de Tenencia Orquiecuador y Gloxinias, Sucre y García Moreno, esquina frente al Parque central, 071050 Piñas, El Oro,
Ecuador; E-mail: bosco_escorpion@hotmail.com
2
Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regional Unidad Oaxaca,
Hornos 1003, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, 71230, Oaxaca, Mexico

Introduction

The most species-rich genus of Spiranthinae Lindley (1840: 441, 462) is Cyclopogon Presl (1827: 93) with 83 species
(Chase et al. 2015). It is distributed from Florida to northern Argentina and southern Brazil, including the Antilles, but
the greatest species richness is found in Brazil and the Andean regions of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. One
species, Cyclopogon obliquus (Smith 1910: 74) Szlachetko (1994: 425) has been reported as naturalised in Southeast
Asia (Salazar 2003).
Cyclopogon species grow as terrestrials or lithophytes, rarely as epiphytes, in a wide variety of plant communities,
from near the sea level to almost 3000 m (Salazar 2003). The genus can be recognised by being acaulescent plants
with fleshy, pilose and fascicled roots and petiolate leaves forming a basal rosette; the ovary is pubescent and fusiform;
the sepals are abaxially pubescent, the lateral ones variably fused to each other, forming a basal chin-like nectary; the
lip is divided into a hypochile and an epichile, with margins adherent to the sides of the column to form a tunnel-like
access to the nectary, with a pair of basal calli; the column is erect, claviform, straight, ventrally channeled, and with
a column foot; the anther is dorsal, sessile; the pollinarium is formed by two cleft pollinia; the rostellum commonly
is oblong-triangular; and the stigmatic surface is bilobed (Burns-Balogh 1982, Garay 1982, Salazar 2003, Dodson &
Luer 2005).
In Ecuador, around 26 species of Cyclopogon are known, about 14 of them considered endemic (Dodson 1993b,
Jørgensen & León-Yánez 1999, Dodson & Luer 2005). Recently, some specimens of Cyclopogon flowered under
cultivation in the Orquiecuador & Gloxinias collection, exhibiting morphological similarities to several species,
especially C. argyrotaenius Schlechter (1921: 44), C. ellipticus (Garay 1978: 266) Dodson (1993a: 92), C. epiphyticus
(Dodson 1980: t. 4) Dodson (1993a: 92), C. gracilis Schlechter (1921: 45) and C. hennisianus (Sandt 1928: 248)
Dodson (1993a: 94). However, when the cultivated material was compared with these species, it was found that it
corresponded to an undescribed taxon, which is here described and illustrated for the first time.
The description and illustration of the new taxon were based on specimens cultivated at the orchid collection of
Orquiecuador & Gloxinias (Piñas, El Oro, Ecuador). The illustration and photographic composition included plant
habit, views of the inflorescence and flower, flower dissection and details of the lip, column, anther, pollinarium and
capsule. Voucher specimens were deposited at QCNE; a distribution map for the new taxon was made using ArcGIS
10 (ESRI 2010) software.
To confirm identification of the new species, relevant and available literature for Cyclopogon was reviewed.
Taking as a starting point the literature Flora of Ecuador for this group (Garay 1978), a search for related species that
were described later was performed using databases Epidendra (http://www.epidendra.org), International Plant Names
Index (http://www.ipni.org), and Tropicos (http://www.tropicos.org). We consulted descriptions and illustrations
published in Garay (1978, 1982), Dodson (1993b) and Dodson & Luer (2005).

Accepted by Mark Chase: 5 Oct. 2018; published: 21 Nov. 2018 201

Taxonomic treatment

Cyclopogon soniae-juaniorum Zambrano, sp. nov. (Figs. 1–3)

Type:—ECUADOR. El Oro: Cantón Piñas, sector La Garganta, 1100 m, 11 October 2007, Zambrano 272 (holotype QCNE; isotype
QCNE, in spirit).

FIGURE 1. Cyclopogon soniae-juaniorum Zambrano. A. Habit. B. Flower, lateral view. C. Floral dissection. D. Ovary and column, lateral
view. E. Column, ventral and lateral view. F. Pollinarium from below and above. Drawn by B.J. Zambrano from the holotype.

202 • Phytotaxa 376 (5) © 2018 Magnolia Press zambrano & SOLANO
FIGURE 2. Cyclopogon soniae-juaniorum Zambrano. A. Habit, inflorescence and dried leaf. B. Floral bract and flower in lateral view. C.
Segment of inflorescence. D. Floral dissection. E. Ovary, column and lip, lateral view. F. Detail of the column, ventral surface. G. Detail
of the rostellum, lateral, dorsal and ventral surface. H. Details of the calli, base and dorsal surface of the lip. I. Anther and pollinarium. J.
Capsule with persistent perianth. Plate by B.J. Zambrano based on Zambrano 272, 510 and 1786.

A new species of Cyclopogon (Orchidaceae) Phytotaxa 376 (5) © 2018 Magnolia Press • 203
FIGURE 3. Localities for Cyclopogon soniae-juaniorum in southwestern Ecuador. Map by B.J. Zambrano.

The new species is similar to Cyclopogon hennisianus, from which it is distinguished by being epiphytic and having an
oblong-lanceolate dorsal sepal, linear-oblong petals, an unguiculate lip with tiny, intramarginal, thickened, translucent,
rounded calli, an oblong-pandurate hypochile and an oblong-ovate epichile.
Epiphytic, acaulescent herbs, 20–60 cm tall including inflorescence. Roots fascicled, pilose, 20–40 mm long,
5.0–7.0 mm in diameter. Leaves erect, 1–8, arranged in a basal rosette, petiolate, subtended at their base by 2–3
translucent, funnel-like, imbricating, scarious sheaths, 8.0–40.0 × 4.0–8.0 mm when spread out; petiole channeled, 30–
90 mm long; blade dull green (brown when dried), elliptic-lanceolate to obliquely elliptic, acute, conduplicate toward
the base, 40–130 × 10–40 mm. Inflorescence up to 58 cm long with up to 100 flowers, 5–30 open simultaneously,
subtended at base by 3–4 funnel-like, imbricating, acute, scarious, translucent sheaths, 15.0–70.0 × 4.0–12.0 mm when
spread out; peduncle green, 2.0–5.0 mm in diameter, glabrous on the proximal 2/3, pilose above, partially enclosed
by 4–7 loose, lanceolate, long-acuminate, pale green, translucent bracts 30.0–40.0 × 1.0–7.0 mm when spread out.
Floral bracts pale green, translucent, conspicuously longer than the ovaries, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, concave,

204 • Phytotaxa 376 (5) © 2018 Magnolia Press zambrano & SOLANO
10.0–20.0 × 2.0–4.0 mm when spread out. Flowers resupinate, ascending, tubular, sepals green, petals and labellum
green, white at their apices with a green stripe above the middle. Ovary sessile, arcuate, fusiform, terete, sparsely
pilose, 5.0–11.0 mm long, 1.5–2.5 mm in diameter. Sepals sparsely pilose and sometimes white-spotted on the abaxial
surface, membranous, translucent, 1-nerved, dorsal sepal concave, oblong-lanceolate, acute, slightly recurved at the
apex, 6.0–7.0 × 1.0–1.5 mm; lateral sepals concave, obliquely oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, 7.0–8.0 × 0.9–1.2 mm. Petals
translucent, linear-oblong, obtuse, slightly wider toward the apex, concave, 1-nerved, 5.0–6.5 × 0.8–1.0 mm. Lip
channeled in natural position, shortly unguiculate, divided into a hypochile and epichile, attenuate at base, with a tiny,
intramarginal, thickened, translucent, rounded calli on each side of the base, the hypochile conduplicate-channeled in
natural position, oblong-pandurate when spread out, strongly recurved apically, 3-nerved, ca. 4.0–4.5 × 2.0–2.1 mm,
the epichile more or less oblong-ovate, crenulate, slightly trilobed, minutely papillose apically, ca. 2.5–3.0 × 2.0 mm.
Column slightly recurved, claviform, shortly pubescent and channeled on ventral surface, 4.0–4.3 mm long, with a
column foot. Anther dorsal, elliptic-ovate, concave, bilocular, 1.3–1.5 × 0.7–0.8 mm, hinged by a filament. Pollinarium
1.3 mm long, formed by 2 claviform, longitudinally cleft, whitish, granular pollinia, gradually attenuated towards the
apex, attached to a wedge-type viscidium. Rostellum linear, laminar, oblong-triangular, 0.9–1.0 mm long, rostellum
remnant truncate; stigma ventral, slightly concave, bilobed. Capsule narrowly ellipsoid, with a persistent perianth,
11–14 mm long (14–18 mm including the remnant column), 3.5–4.0 mm in diameter when mature.
Distribution and habitat:—Cyclopogon soniae-juaniorum is only known from southwestern Ecuador, El Oro
Province, where there are only three localities reported. This species grows between 785–1200 m elevation in evergreen
premontane forest and semi-deciduous forests (Fig. 3). The plant grows as an epiphyte on Yucca species and fallen
trees.
Phenology:—In cultivation, flowering July–October.
Etymology:—Named in honour of Sonia Romero, Juan Zambrano and Juan Pablo Zambrano, parents and brother
of the first author, who have contributed substantially to our research on Orchidaceae of Ecuador.
Additional specimens examined:—Ecuador. El Oro: Cantón Piñas, sector Piñas Grande, 1200 m, 12 December
2007, Zambrano 510 (QCNE); Cantón Santa Rosa, sector El Guayabo, 785 m, 09 July 2016, Zambrano 1786
(QCNE).
Notes:—Cyclopogon soniae-juaniorum is the unique among Cyclopogon species due to its tiny basal calli, but it
is similar to species such as C. argyrotaenius, C. ellipticus, C. epiphyticus, C. gracilis and C. hennisianus. The most
similar species is the Ecuadorian and Colombian C. hennisianus, but it is different in its terrestrial habit (vs. epiphytic),
variegated leaves (vs. dull-green), oblong dorsal sepal (vs. lanceolate), acute lateral sepals (vs. obtuse), shorter and
oblong-obovate petals (≤ 5.5 mm vs. 6.5 mm, linear-oblong) and a sagittate-subquadrate lip with small conical calli
(vs. oblong-pandurate, with tiny, translucent and rounded) (Sandt 1928, Garay 1978, Dodson 1993b). Table 1 shows a
summary of the morphological characteristics that differentiate the other similar species.

TABLE 1. Summary of the main differences between Cyclopogon soniae-juaniorum and morphologically similar species.
Trait C. argyrotaenius C. ellipticus C. epiphyticus C. gracilis C. hennisianus C. soniae-juaniorum

Habit Epiphytic Terrestrial Epiphytic Terrestrial Terrestrial Epiphytic

Dorsal sepal Oblong- Oblong-ligulate, Narrowly Linear-oblong, 6.0 Oblong, ≤ 6.0 Lanceolate, 6.0–7.0
(shape and length) lanceolate, ≤ 6.0 6.0 mm ovate, 6.0 mm mm mm mm
mm
Lateral sepals Linear-oblong, ≤ Oblong- Narrowly Linear-lanceolate, Oblong- Oblong-lanceolate,
(shape and length) 7.0 mm lanceolate, 6.0 elliptic, 7.0 mm 6.5 mm lanceolate, ≤ 7.0 7.0–8.0 mm
mm mm
Petals (shape and Oblanceolate, ≤ Linear-ligulate, Narrowly Linear-oblong to Oblong- Linear-oblong, 6.5
length) 5.5 mm 5.5 mm obovate, 5.0 linear-oblanceolate, obovate, ≤ 5.5 mm
mm 5.0 mm mm
Lip shape Subquadrate- Sagittate- Subpandurate Linear-oblong Oblong- Oblong-pandurate
pandurate subquadrate pandurate
Lip calli Triangular Linear-falcate Falcate Triangular-falcate Conical Minute, rounded
Rostellum (shape Ovate-triangular, Ovate- Ovate- Linear, truncate Ovate- Linear, truncate
and apex) truncate triangular, acute triangular, triangular,
truncate truncate

A new species of Cyclopogon (Orchidaceae) Phytotaxa 376 (5) © 2018 Magnolia Press • 205
 Conservation status:—Cyclopogon soniae-juaniorum occurs in remnant forest disturbed by human activities
(La Garganta, Piñas Grande, El Guayabo), where the populations exhibit low densities (1–3 plants per host shrub).
Furthermore, they are outside protected areas, so the conservation of this species would depend on ensuring the
persistence of its habitat.

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the reviewers for providing useful comments and suggestions that improved the manuscript. The
Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment (MAE) for the permission for fieldwork and collecting. This study is part of
the project Diversity and geographical distribution of Orchidaceae from El Oro Province (N.◦006-IC-FLO-DPAEO-
MAE).

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