Koellensteinia graminea (Lindl.) Rchb.f.

  • Authority

    Ackerman, James D. 1995. An orchid flora of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 73: 1-203.

  • Family

    Orchidaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Koellensteinia graminea (Lindl.) Rchb.f.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants epiphytic, glabrous, to 30 cm tall. Roots numerous. Stems short, lacking pseudobulbs, hidden by leaf bases. Leaves 1-3, thin, linear, 10-26 cm long, 3-9 mm wide. Inflorescences lateral, erect, 6-25 cm long; pedunculate bracts distant, 5-12 mm long; racemes simple or branched, few-flowered. Flowers yellowish to pale green with narrow, transverse bars on the lower half of perianth, resupinate. Pedicellate ovary subsessile, 5-12 mm long. Sepals similar, elliptic, 7-11 mm long, 3-5 mm wide. Petals oblong to oblong-elliptic, obtuse, slightly shorter than the sepals. Lip 3-lobed, fleshy, attached to an elongate column foot, 3.5-6 mm long; lateral lobes erect; midlobe spreading, transversely reniform, c. 8 mm wide when spread; callus reflexed, bilobed, situated beneath the column. Column erect, stout, semiterete, winged, 2-2.8 mm long; foot slightly longer. Fruits ellipsoidal, ca. 11 mm long.

  • Discussion

    1. Koellensteinia graminea (Lindley) Reichenbach f., Bonplandia 4: 323. 1856. Maxillaria graminea Lindley, Edward's Bot. Reg. 21: sub t. 1802. 1835. Type. R. H. Schomburgk 503, from Guyana (K-L). Phenology & Pollination. Elsewhere K. graminea flowers in the fall (Schultes, 1960). In South America and Trinidad, the pollinators are probably euglossine bees, a tribe of Apidae that does not occur in Puerto Rico. Illustrations. Martius, 1893-1906; Schultes, 1960; Foldats, 1970; Bechtel et al., 1981.

  • Distribution

    General Distribution. Puerto Rico, tropical South America, and Trinidad. Distribution in Puerto Rico. In the late nineteenth century, Sintenis collected a plant from near Utuado (Cogniaux & Urban, 1903). I have not been able to locate this specimen and suspect that it was a misidentification. Kollensteinia graminea is not known from other islands of the West Indies, so our plants would represent an unusual disjunct distribution. Habitat. Epiphytic in moist regions at middle elevations; very rare

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