Lepanthes serraniaguae E.Restrepo, J.S.Moreno & García-Revelo, 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 : 140-143

6. Lepanthes serraniaguae E.Restrepo, J.S.Moreno & García-Revelo , sp. nov. ( Figures 18–20 , 21 )

Type:— COLOMBIA. Valle del Cauca: El Cairo, Reserva Cerro El Inglés, Serranía de Los Paraguas, near to the departamental border, 2,231 m, 29 October 2021, T. Arias et al. 741 (holotype: CUVC!, isotype: SEL! Spirit).

Among all reported Colombian species, L. serraniaguae is similar to L. trinaria Luer & R. Escobar (1997: 311) , apparently endemic to the Antioquia department, they both share the upper lobe of the petals heavily bifurcated and a protruding column whether the lip is somewhat reduced. It can be distinguished by the ovate-elliptical, caudate leaves (vs. cordate-ovate, subacute leaves), the congested inflorescences with much shorter pedicels (vs. sublax), the orange to vinaceous flowers with heavily connate lateral sepals (vs. translucent yellow-green sepals, barely connate, narrower and diverging from each other) the petals light orange to red-magenta, puberulent, often forked into an inner filiform secondary segment, narrower, segments glabrous (vs. brown, bifurcate upper lobe of the petals, the external one ciliate at the distal half).

Description:— Epiphytic herb, small to medium in size, caespitose, horizontal to erect, up to 5.83 cm tall. Roots slender, flexuous, filiform, 0.42–0.48 mm in diameter. Ramicauls 3.13–3.67 cm long, enclosed by 5–9 infundibuliform (lepanthiform) sheaths, papillose along the ribs, with a ciliate, acuminate, and dilated ostia. Leaves sometimes suffused with purple abaxially and even more rarely adaxially, papyraceous, the veins conspicuous at both faces, reticulated, ovate-elliptical, heavily acuminate, triapiculate, 2.97–3.17 × 0.99–1.1 cm; the cuneate base narrowing into a petiole ca. 5 mm long. Inflorescence a distichous, filiform, successively and congested several flowered raceme, nearly as long as the leaf or shorter, ca 3.33–3.45 cm long, borne at the adaxial side of the leaf, by a peduncle sparsely papillose 5.17– 6.22 cm long; floral bracts membranous, conical, papillose, obtuse, 0.96–1.51 mm long; pedicels 1.69–2.18 mm long. Ovary costate, conical, 2.69–3.01 mm long. Flowers with sepals orange to vinaceous, somewhat hyaline, the dorsal sepal sometimes suffused with magenta at its base, the lateral sepals sometimes suffused with vinaceous along its internal longitudinal middle, petals light orange to red-magenta, even yellowish, lip orange to reddish-magenta. Sepals anatomically presenting crystals, carinate abaxially along the veins, with conspicuous filiform-like papillae along the margins, slightly revolute longitudinally, widely spread. Dorsal sepal ovate, subacute, 4.41–4.95 × 2.75–3.15 mm, 3- veined, connate to the lateral sepals for less than 1.34 mm. Lateral sepals, ovate, oblique, acute to subacute, 4.07–4.59 × 1.89–2.21 mm, connate each other 1.19–1.73 mm at its base, 2-veined. Petals transversely bilobed, microscopically puberulent, 5.07–6.06 × 0.61–0.99 mm, the upper lobe linear to acute, variably forked or not into an inner filiform secondary segment, often twisted at the apex and larger than the lower lobe, which is thinner and about ⅓ the length of the upper lobe, narrowly triangular-linear, filiform, uncinate-falcate. Lip bilaminate, inconspicuously puberulent, the blades ovate-lanceolate, getting acute but the apex obtuse, 0.61–1.09 × 0.17–0.28 mm, the connectives cuneate, connate to the column at the base, the appendix short, narrowly triangular, stout pubescent, the base dilated, with a Vshaped protuberance at the tip; column stout, 1.65 mm long, the anther apical, the stigma ventral, the clinandrium stiff haired; anther cap oblong, cucullate, ca. 0.34 mm long; pollinia not seen.

Distribution and ecology:— The new species has been only found close to the pedestrian´s trail near the departmental border between Valle del Cauca and Chocó, in small shrubs branches near the floor, where it was locally abundant.

Etymology:— The specific epithet was chosen to honor Serraniagua, a community-based environmental organization that owns the land of the Reserva Natural Comunitaria Cerro El Inglés, in the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia, where the type specimen was collected.

Taxonomic discussion:— Lepanthes serraniaguae appears to be morphologically related to Lepanthes trinaria , endemic to the Antioquia department, both sharing the upper lobe of the petals variably forked and a protruding column. however, in addition to the characteristics included in the diagnosis, they can be also differentiated by the ciliate apex of the lip blades of the new species (vs. the blades glabrous, microscopically cellular-pubescent), as well as the appendix, narrowly triangular, stout pubescent, dilated at the base, with a V-shaped protuberance at the tip (vs. oblong, pubescent, bilobed at the apex).

Figures

FIGURE 18. In-situ photographs of Lepanthes serraniaguae E. Restrepo, J.S. Moreno & García-Revelo. A. Lateral view of flower. B. Lateral view of leaves and flowers. C. Habit and plant. Photographs by J. S. Moreno.

FIGURE 19. Taxonomic illustration of Lepanthes serraniaguae E. Restrepo, J.S. Moreno & García-Revelol. A. Habit and plant. B. Lateral 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 20. Comparison of Lepanthes serraniaguae E. Restrepo, J.S. Moreno & García-Revelo with a species with taxonomic affinities. A–B. Lepanthes serraniaguae C–D. Lepanthes trinaria. In-situ photographs by A–B: S. Vieira-Uribe, C–D: S. Berrio.

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).