Oberonia rufilabris Lindl.

Geiger, D. L., 2019, Studies on Oberonia 5 (Orchidaceae: Malaxideae). Twenty-four new synonyms, and a corrected spelling, Blumea 64 (2), pp. 123-139 : 136

Oberonia rufilabris Lindl. — Fig. 15

Oberonia rufilabris Lindl. (1838) t 8A. — Type. Griffith s.n. (lecto Ansari & Balakrishnan (1990: 40: inadvertent designation) K 000974242; isolecto L 0061775, P00044876), Burma [= Myanmar], Mergui .

Oberonia thisbe Rchb.f. (1855) 223. — Type: Cuming 2134 (syn K s.n., W 68837, W 37745), Philippines. Bohol on K type sheet, syn. nov.

Oberonia nepalensis L.R.Shakya & R.P.Chaudhary (1999) 359,f. 2. — Type: L.R. Shakya, R. L. Singh & R. P. Chaudhary 27 (holo KATH; iso TUCH), [ Nepal,] Gandaki Zone, Pokhara (around Annapurna Conservation area ), 1100 m, syn. nov.

Oberonia pantlingiana L.R.Shakya & R.P.Chaudhary (1999) 360,f. 3. — Type: R. Pantling 430 (holo CAL;iso B000088284),[ India,] Sikkim, Doars , 175 m.

Notes — Oberonia thisbe was based on a small specimen ( Ames 1908), but lacks any discrete differentiating attributes ( Fig. 15a–b ). Oberonia nepalensis and O. pantlingiana were distinguished by vegetative size and size of the inflorescence. Both characters are well-known to be extensively variable within O. rufilabris ( Seidenfaden 1995, Geiger pers. obs.), and especially vegetative size is likely linked to the age or developmental stage of the plant. Inflorescences may have as few as three to in excess of 60 whorls of flowers. Shape differences of the petals indicated by Shakya & Chaudhary (1999: t. 1) are at best subtle and well within intraspecific variability ( Fig. 15 ). Both those names are only known from the type gathering, hence, exhibit a particularly egregious case of typological splitting. Those names are here synonymised under O. rufilabris . Rajbhandari (2015) and Gogoi & Yonzone (2016) included O. pantlingiana in their synonymy of O. rufilabris without any further discussion, but did not include O. nepalensis .

Figures

Fig. 15 a. Oberonia rufilabris: drawing from Lindley specimen in Reichenbach herbarium Nr. 35494 in W; b. O. thisbe: drawing from Reichenbach f. type specimen in W Reichenbach herbarium 37745. Drawing digitally re-arranged; c. O. nepalensis: original illustration of flower from Shakya & Chaudhary (1999: f. 2); d. O. pantlingiana: original illustration of flower from Shakya & Chaudhary (1999: f. 3); e–f. O. rufilabris: e. light optical z-stacked image (17 images) of inflorescence (DLG 476/HOAG 176); f. SEM image of flower (DLG 80/HOAG 93). — Scale bars = 1 mm.