Oberonia griffithiana 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 : 128

Oberonia griffithiana Lindl. — Fig. 5

Oberonia griffithiana Lindl.(1838) t. 1779/t8B. Griffith 355 (lecto K 00097422, Ansari & Balakrishnan (1990: 43) inadvertently designated “ Type: Griffith s.n. Moulmein, Burma (K)”, second step designated here). Burma [= Myanmar], Moulmein [= Mawlamyine].

Oberonia toppingii Ames (1914) 413. — Type: D. LeRoy Topping s.n. (syn AMES 13282 , HUH barcode 00102067), [ Philippines,] Luzon, Rizal Province, Wawa , syn. nov.

Notes — Oberonia toppingii is here considered a synonym of O. griffithiana . Ames (1914) compared his species to his O. basilanensis (= O. insectifera : see below), but noted the wider petals. The multiple long digitated lateral lobes are found in only a few species including O. griffithiana with wider petals than O. insectifera with linear-lanceolate petals. The drawing of the isolated lip on the type sheet of O. toppingii ( Fig. 5b ) shows nicely the rough surface of O. griffithiana as can be seen both in the photograph ( Fig. 5c ) and even better in the SEM images ( Fig. 5d–f ). This rough surface has only been seen in O. griffithiana out of dozens of species examined by SEM. Both in basilanensis – insectifera as well as in toppingii – griffithiana , the accepted names were described from the Malayan Peninsula ( insectifera , griffithiana ) and Ames introduced synonyms ( basilanensis , toppingii ) for specimens found on the Philippines. Kew lists in their database additional specimens as ‘unknown types’ for O. griffithiana . However, those specimens are from Mergui, Myanmar, and Myanmar, hence, cannot possibly be considered type material ( Griffith 772 K 00974200, Myanmar, Mergui; s. coll. 772 K 000387723, Myanmar [most likely duplicate of Griffith 772]; Griffith 5090 K 000387725, Myanmar, Mergui).

An additional unpublished manuscript name has been found on historical herbarium specimens. Oberonia caespitosa Griff. , unpublished. Griffith s.n. W Reichenbach 37822, P00404930 from Burma, collected in 1844, has been identified as ‘ O. caespitosa m.’ on a Griffith label. That name has never been published. The W specimen had a further annotation of ‘50 Lindley’, most likely an identification annotation from 1850 by Lindley as evidenced on the P specimen. The P specimen has a Griffith collecting label from 1844, but also a further identification label ‘ Oberonia griffithiana - Burma - M. Lindley 1838 ’. That 1838 date is a publication date of the name and not a collecting date of the specimen. Accordingly, the P specimen cannot be considered an isotype of O. griffithiana as indicated in P database.

Figures

Fig. 5 a. Oberonia griffithiana Lindl.: Illustration from protologue; b. O. toppingii: drawing of flower from type sheet; c–f. HOAG148 ex Stadtgärtnerei Zürich, Switzerland; c. photograph of flower; d–f. scanning electron micrographs. — Scale bar = 1 mm.