Lepanthes monticola T.Arias, J.S.Moreno & D.E.Cadavid Morales, 2025

Arias, Tatiana, Moreno, Juan Sebastián, Restrepo, Eugenio, Alegría-Valencia, Melisa, Cadavid-Morales, David Emilio, Alarcón-Vinasco, Sergio Fernando, Davila, Camila & Zuluaga, Alejandro, 2025, Expedition Lepanthes (Orchidaceae) of Colombia: discovery of six new species and observations on a curious case of flower polymorphism, Phytotaxa 705 (2), pp. 115-148 : 136-139

5. Lepanthes monticola T.Arias, J.S.Moreno & D.E.Cadavid Morales , sp. nov. ( Figures 15–17 , 21 )

Type:— COLOMBIA. Caldas: Riosucio, La Tabarquina, 2,640 m, 9 February 2024. T. Arias et al. 1336 (holotype: CUVC!, isotype: SEL! Spirit).

Lepanthes monticola is a small epiphyte with ramicauls enclosed by 4–9 lepanthiform sheaths (vs. 10–13). Its leaves are pendant, coriaceous, and narrowly ovate with a cuneate base (vs. elliptical, reticulate beneath). The inflorescence is a congested, long-pedicellate, distichous raceme borne adaxially, with a slender peduncle (vs. up to 5 mm long, filiform peduncle). The dorsal sepals are yellow with a red center, denticulate, carinate, and concave (vs. yellow, glabrous, forming an ovate synsepal). The petals are dark red at the center, yellow at the tips, pubescent, and transversely trilobed, with triangular upper lobes and linear mid and lower lobes (vs. tripartite with narrowly linear segments, yellow upper and mid segments, and orange lower segment). The lip is red, pubescent, bilaminate with narrowly elliptical-oblong blades, ciliate, and features a slender, oblong, concave appendix (vs. narrowly oblong blades with a large, narrowly triangular appendix). The column is slender and clavate (vs. terete in L. skeleton ).

Description:— Epiphytic herb, 4.8–7.5 cm tall, caespitose, roots slender 0.48–0.62 mm in diameter Ramicauls 3.3–5.2 cm long, enclosed by a 4–9 narrowly lepanthiform sheaths. Leaves, erect to suberect, coriaceous, narrowly ovate, acute,1.7–2.72 × 2.76–3.46 cm; the base cuneate into a petiole 4.47 cm long. Inflorescence a congested, long-pedunculate, distichous, successively flowered racemes producing 2–9 flowers one at a time, 1.84–2.2 cm long, borne on the adaxial surface of the leaf by a slender peduncle, 1.1–1.49 cm long; floral bracts, acuminate, 0.69–0.74 mm long; pedicels 2.92–4.11 mm long, melrose pink. Ovary costate, 1.24–1.29 mm long. Dorsal sepal yellow with a red center, fimbriate, carinate abaxially, ovate, apex acute, concave, 4.16 × 2.1 mm, 3-veined connate to the lateral sepals for 0.97–0.98 mm. Lateral sepals yellow with a longitudinal wide red stripe in the middle, fimbriate, carinate abaxially, slightly concave, ovate, attenuate, 3.64–3. 66 × 1.47 mm, 2-veined, connate. Petals yellow towards the tips and dark red towards the center, minutely pubescent, transversely trilobed, the upper lobe oblong to triangular, obtuse, the mid and lower lobes, narrowly linear, 4.64–4.91 × 0.41–0.49 mm, the lower lobe is thicker and longer than the middle lobe, with both lobes around 2x the length of the upper one. Lip red pubescent, bilaminate, the blades narrowly elliptical-oblong, ciliate, 2.24–2.32 × 0.23–0.25 mm, the connectives short, broadly cuneate, adnate to the column base by one-third the size of connectives, connectives holding the blades from below from their two apical thirds, the sinus acute, connate to the column at the base, appendix, pubescent, slender, oblong, concave, protruding downward. Column, slender, clavate, 1.92–2.13 mm long, stigma ventral anther dorsal. Anther cap not seen. Pollinia not seen.

Distribution and ecology:—Found on the Ramirez land growing on preserve and very humid montane forest.

Etymology:— The meaning of the specific epithet of the species Lepanthes monticola comes from the Latin word’s mons, which means ‘mountain,’ and ‘colo,’ which signifies ‘inhabitant’ or ‘dweller.’ In other words, it refers to the inhabitant of the mountains or a mountaineer, honoring in this way the territory of the Mountain, the place where rural and indigenous communities live.

Additional material examined (paratype):— COLOMBIA. Caldas: Riosucio, Las Planadas. 2,221m, 13 October 2021, T. Arias et al. 726 (CUVC!, SEL! Spirit).

Taxonomic discussion:— This species has affinity with species such as Lepanthes skeleton Luer & R.Escobar (1984: 722) , L. heptapus Luer & R.Escobar (1983: 1266) , L. hexapus Luer & R.Escobar (1984: 144) and L acrogenia Luer & R.Escobar (1991: 24) . Most of these species have a congested, long-pedicellate, distichous, successively many flowered racemes, pubescent flowers, with tri-partite, long slender and terete petals. Lepanthes monticola is a small epiphytic plant, of 4.8–7.5 cm in height, with ramicauls 3.3–5.2 cm long, enclosed by 4 to 9 lepanthiform sheaths (vs. 10 to 13). Its leaves are erect to suberect, coriaceous, narrowly ovate, 1.7–2.72 cm long and 2.76–3.46 cm wide, with a cuneate base into a petiole 4.47 cm long (vs. erect, coriaceous, reticulate beneath, elliptical, 15–18 mm long and 7–8 mm wide, with a petiole 1–1.5 mm). The inflorescence is a congested, long-pedicellate, distichous, many-flowered raceme, 1.84–2.2 cm long (vs. up to 5 mm long), borne on the adaxial side of the leaf with a slender peduncle 1.1–1.49 cm long (vs. filiform peduncle 10–15 mm). The dorsal sepals are yellow with a red center, denticulate, carinate, ovate, concave, 4.16 × 2.1 mm, connate to the lateral sepals for 0.97–0.98 mm (vs. yellow, glabrous, denticulate on the margins and carinae, the dorsal sepal ovate, acute, concave, 3.75 × 2.5 mm, connate to the lateral sepals for 0.5 mm, forming an ovate synsepal 3.5 × 2.25 mm). The petals are yellow towards the tips and dark red towards the center, pubescent, transversely trilobed, with the upper lobe triangular and acute, the mid and lower lobes narrowly linear, 4.64–4.91 0.41–0.49 mm (vs. tripartite petals, minutely pubescent, with narrowly linear segments, the upper and middle segments yellow and 1.25 mm long, and the lower segment orange and 1.5 mm long). The lip is red, pubescent, bilaminate, with narrowly elliptical-oblong blades, ciliate, 2.24–2.32 × 0.23–0.25 mm, with short, broadly cuneate connectives, adnate to the column base by one-third the size of the connectives, with an acute sinus, a pubescent, slender, oblong, concave appendix protruding downward (vs. red, pubescent, bilaminate lip, with narrowly oblong blades, 1.2 mm long, and a large, narrowly triangular, pubescent appendix, 0.8 mm long). The column is slender, clavate, 1.92–2.13 mm long (vs. terete and 1.5 mm in L. skeleton ).

Figures

FIGURE 15. In-situ photographs of Lepanthes monticola T. Arias, J.S. Moreno and D.E. Cadavid Morales. A. Frontal view of flower. B. Lateral view of flower. C. Habit and plant. Photographs by D. Cadavid.

FIGURE 16. Taxonomic illustration of Lepanthes monticola T. Arias, J.S. Moreno and D.E. Cadavid Morales. A. Habit and plant. B. Frontal view of flower. C. Frontal view of dissected perianth. D. Lateral view of lip, column, appendix, and ovary. E. Frontal view of lip and appendix. Drawing by J. S. Moreno based on the holotype.

FIGURE 17. Comparison Lepanthes monticola T.Arias, J.S. Moreno and D.E. Cadavid Morales with a species with taxonomic affinities. A. Lepanthes montícola. B. Lepanthes skeleton. Photographs by A: D. Cadavid, B: S. Vieira-Uribe.

FIGURE 21. Currently known geographical distribution of new species collected during the Lepanthes de Colombia expedition. The country highlighted in grey is Colombia. The map was created in R, based on code adapted from Testo (2021).