Benthamia trifida Hermans & Hervouet, 2025
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/10.5252/adansonia2025v47a11 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/039B87AB-FF90-FFA0-2071-F70A2D9BC5E4 |
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treatment provided by |
Plazi |
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scientific name |
Benthamia trifida Hermans & Hervouet |
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Benthamia trifida Hermans & Hervouet , sp. nov.
( Figs 94 View FIG ; 95 View FIG ; 96 View FIG )
DIAGNOSIS. — Benthamia trifida Hermans & Hervouet , sp. nov. shares the fleshy pale petals and lip with contrasting green sepals with Benthamia herminioides but that species is terrestrial or lithophytic, has a much shorter leaf at anthesis and a more densely flowered rachis. It shares the habit of Benthamia spiraloides (Cordem.) Hermans & P.J.Cribb but in that species the leaves are narrower and borne higher on the stem, the lateral sepals are not spreading-reflexed and the spur is scrotiform (vs flattened). It is also similar to the widespread terrestrial or lithophyte Benthamia africana (Lindl.) Hermans but that species has more leaves (3 to 5 vs 1 to 3) which are narrower and more attenuate, a denser rachis and a more distinctly trilobed lip.
TYPE MATERIAL. — Madagascar • Alaotra-Mangoro GoogleMaps , Andasibe area; 19°00’40”S, 48°27’24”E; alt. 1150 m; V.2001; J. Hermans 8224; holotype: K !.
ETYMOLOGY. — The species epithet trifida , refers to the distinctive three-pointed calyx and corolla.
PHENOLOGY. — Flowering from March to May.
DISTRIBUTION AND ECOLOGY. — Madagascar. From Andasibe region (Alaotra-Mangoro region) down to Ranomafana in the south (Haute Matsiatra region), so far known from only two localities. Altitudinal range 950 to 1200 m, medium altitude moist evergreen forest ( Fig. 97 View FIG ). CONSERVATION. — The AOO of this species is less than 500 km ², the two locations known are a national park that suffered poaching of orchids during the Covid years, Ranomafana N.P., and a forest which is not yet an official reserve and is threatened by logging, the Iaroka forest near Andasibe. This species is thus considered Endangered (EN) according to criterion B2.
ADDITIONAL SPECIMENS EXAMINED. — Madagascar • Alaotra-Manoro GoogleMaps , Andasibe area; 19°00’40”S, 48°27’24”E; alt. 1100 m; V.2001; J. Hermans 8231; K ! • Haute Matsiatra GoogleMaps , Ranomafana N. P.; 21°14’22”S, 47°23’41”E; alt. 1025 m; 20.III.2015; photographic records by Jean-Michel Hervouet ( Figs 94 View FIG ; 95 View FIG ) • Alaotra-Mangoro , Andasibe area; alt. 1200 m; 5. V.2023.; photographic records by J. Hermans. NOTES
This species is very variable in size and even very small plants can produce flowers.
DESCRIPTION
Slender epiphytic herb, 4-25 cm tall.Tubers 2-3, ovoid, woolly, 10-25 × 3-8 mm, roots wiry, woolly, 0.6-1.4 mm in diameter. Stem 3-5 mm in diameter, with 2 to 3 short basal enveloping sheaths. Leaves cauline, generally 1 but up to 3 in older plants, erect to arcuate, narrowly ligulate or linear-lanceolate, acute, 3-12.5 × 0.5-1.5 cm, shortly petiolate, the midvein slightly raised beneath, pale to dark green. Rachis more or less spiral, erect, secund, green, with 1 to 2 sheaths towards the base, loosely flowered in the upper half, with up to 45 flowers but generally fewer. Floral bracts narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, about as long as the ovary, 3-5.6 × 1.2-1.8 mm, green. Ovary disproportionately large, at first erect then divergent, with three longitudinal ridges, 3.5-6.5 × 1-1.4 mm, pale green. Flowers fleshy, c. 3 × 4 mm, corolla almost tubular at the base, sepals pale green, petals and lip often pale pink but sometimes pale yellowish-green; dorsal sepal cucullate, narrowly elliptic, obtuse, arcuate over the column, 1.5-2.2 × 0.4-0.9 mm; lateral sepals spreading to recurved, narrowly elliptic, concave, obtuse, 1.9-2.1 × 0.8-0.9 mm; petals, ovate, subacute, the apex and anterior margin thickened and more or less lobed, 1.8- 2 × 1-1.2 mm. Lip obtusely trilobed, 1.5-1.9 × 1.1-1.7 mm; lateral lobes thickened towards the apex, rounded; midlobe thick, fleshy, the apex curved; spur subrectangular, flattened, sometimes sub-bilobed, 0.8-1.3 × 0.8-0.9 mm, green.Column 0.6-0.9 × 0.6-0.8 mm, with prominent suborbicular auricles, anther curved, obtusely apiculate.
| J |
University of the Witwatersrand |
| K |
Royal Botanic Gardens |
| V |
Royal British Columbia Museum - Herbarium |
| N |
Nanjing University |
| P |
Museum National d' Histoire Naturelle, Paris (MNHN) - Vascular Plants |
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.