Nidema ottonis (Rchb.f.) Britton & Millsp.
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Authority
Ackerman, James D. 1995. An orchid flora of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 73: 1-203.
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Family
Orchidaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants epiphytic, repent to caespitose, glabrous herbs. Roots white, scattered along rhizome, ca. 1 mm diam. Pseudobulbs stipitate, slightly compressed, fusiform-ellipsoidal, 2.0-4 cm tall. Leaves solitary from apex of pseudobulb, subcoriaceous, linear, mucronate, 6-19 cm long, 5-9 mm wide. Inflorescences terminal; scape erect, slender, bracteate; raceme 1- to few-flowered, shorter than leaf; floral bracts lanceolate, shorter than the ovary. Flowers cream-colored, resupinate. Pedicellate ovary 10-12 mm long. Sepals spreading, apices reflexed, 7-9 mm long, 2-3 mm wide; dorsal sepal elliptic-lanceolate, acute-acuminate; lateral sepals slightly asymmetric, lanceolate, acuminate. Petals flanking column, linear to oblanceolate, acuminate, 6-7 mm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide. Lip attached to the base of the column, fleshy, simple, canaliculate, subpandurate-linear, 5-7 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide. Column arched, slender, semiterete, ca. 4 mm long; anthers 1 or 3 (then the lateral ones small). Fruits ellipsoidal, erect, beaked, 10-15 mm long.
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Discussion
1. Nidema ottonis (Reichenbach f.) Britton & Millspaugh, Bahama Fl. 94. 1920. Epidendrum ottonis Reichenbach f., Hamburger Garten-Blumenzeitung 14: 213. 1858. Type. Otto 1011, from Caracas, Venezuela (W, not seen unless represented by either Reichenbach Orchid Herbarium 109 or 38959, both otherwise unmarked specimens). Phenology & Pollination. Plants flower in the winter. Its pollination biology is unknown, although those plants with 3 anthers are probably self-pollinating. Taxonomic Notes. Nidema ottonis may be a self-pollinating form of N. boothii (Lindley) Schlechter. The latter has sepals 13-20 m m long and an ovary with dark glandular hairs, whereas the former has sepals less than 10 m m long and a naked ovary. The triandrous N. boothii var. triandra Schlechter of Panama also has small flowers and is regarded by some to be synonymous with N. ottonis (e.g., O. Ames et al., 1936).
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Distribution
General Distribution. Greater Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, tropical South America, and Trinidad.
Nicaragua Central America| Panama Central America| South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| Puerto Rico South America|