Eulophia myanmarica Naive, K. Z. Hein & Kumar 2022, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Naive, Mark Arcebal K.
name: Hein, Khant Zaw
name: Kumar, Pankaj
name: Ormerod, Paul
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Liliopsida
Asparagales
Orchidaceae
Eulophia
Eulophia myanmarica

description: Eulophia myanmarica Naive, K.Z.Hein & Kumar, sp. nov. (Fig. 1)
New species differs from Eulophia andamanensis Reichenbach (1872: 276) in having longer floral bract, 5-veined petals and sepals, narrowly oblong dorsal sepal with acute, slightly cucullate apex, obliquely narrowly oblong-elliptic lateral sepals, obliquely triangular with obtusely acute apex on lobules of the sidelobes, sidelobes longer than half of the length of labellum, and a shorter spur.
Type:— MYANMAR, Sagaing Region, Monywa District, Budalin Township, elev. ca. 80 m, cultivated, 7 May 2021, K. Z.Hein 41 (holotype TTM!; isotype TTM, spirit!).
Erect terrestrial herb, ca. 40 cm tall. Pseudobulb partly buried in ground, greenish, obliquely conical or ovoid or irregular in shape, with 8–10 nodes, 5.0–5.5 × 4–5 cm, 8- or 10–leaved, enclosed by several sheaths. Roots several from the base of pseudobulb, velamenous. Leaves sessile, lamina linear to linear-lanceolate, 11.5–43.0 × 2.3–3.3 cm, coriaceous, glabrous, upper surface green, glossy, lower surface light green, veins parallel, margin repand, apex acute. Inflorescences synanthous, arising from the base of the pseudobulb, erect, 16–35-flowered; peduncle 43–59 cm long, 0.4–0.5 cm in diameter at base, cylindrical, green; rachis 15–31 cm long; floral bracts narrowly triangular ovate, acute, 0.5–1.3 cm long, green, membranous, persistent. Pedicel and ovary subclavate, 1.3–1.5 cm long, sulcate, glabrous, light green, resupinate. Flowers widely opening, 2.0– 2.3 cm across. Dorsal sepal 5-nerved, narrowly oblong, 0.9–1.1 × 0.3–0.4 cm, lemon green suffused with red at the base of the dorsal side, convex, glabrous, margin entire, apex acute, slightly cucullate. Lateral sepals 5-nerved, adnate to column foot, obliquely narrowly oblong-elliptic, acute, 1.0–1.2 × 0.3–0.4 cm, lemon green suffused with red at the base of the dorsal side, spreading, glabrous, margins entire. Petals 5-nerved, narrowly oblong, obtuse to acute, 0.9–1.1 cm × ca. 0.3 cm, lemon green suffused with red at the base of the dorsal side, glabrous, margins entire. Lip 3–lobed, broadly obovate, strongly recurved on the front, shortly spurred as the base, 0.9–1.1 × 0.6–0.7 cm (when flattened), with 3 divergent lamellae, central lamella arising from the junction of column-foot and ending just near the apex of midlobe, lateral lamellae starting near the mouth of the spur and ending before the central lamella on the midlobe, basal half of the lamellae smooth, front half wavy; side lobes erect, 0.6–0.7 × ca. 0.2 cm, obliquely triangular, obtuse to acute, pale whitish-green, glabrous, margin entire; midlobe 0.5–0.6 × 0.6–0.7 cm (when flattened), orbicular, emarginate, pale whitish-green with red veins, glabrous, margins strongly undulate and curved upwards; spur conical, retuse, connected to the column at the base of the foot, 0.15–0.2 × 0.15–0.2 cm, greenish to brown in colour, inconspicuously 2-chambered on the inner wall. Column slender, somewhat curved, 0.4–0.5 × 0.2–0.25 cm, white to yellowish white, glabrous; column foot short, ca. 2 mm long; stigma ca. 1 × by 1.5 mm; anther cap ovoid, ca. 1.5 × ca. 1.5 mm, with a pair of horn like divergent protuberances, reddish lemon; pollinia 2, subglobose, ca. 0.5 mm in diameter, golden yellow, attached to a broad, trapezoid connective with a discoid viscidium at posterior end. Capsule not seen.
Distribution:—The species is currently known only from its type locality.
Ecology:—It was found growing in tropical dry forest at elevation of around 80 m a.s.l.
Phenology:—Flowers in cultivation from April to May.
Etymology:—The specific epithet refers to Myanmar, where this species was discovered.
Vernacular name:— (myanmar saydi gamone).
Provisional conservation status:—The distribution area, population size and possible threats to the habitat of Eulophia myanmarica are not known, as it is only known from one cultivated specimen. It is most likely that more individuals of this hardy species exist in the wild. Hence, it is herein provisionally considered as ‘Data Deficient’ (DD), following the Red List criteria of the IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee (2019).
Notes:—Based on overall morphology, Eulophia myanmarica is very close to E. andamanensis (Fig. 2). However, it differs significantly in length of floral bract which is more than half of length of ovary (vs. less than half of length of ovary in E. andamanensis); narrowly oblong, 5-veined (vs. linear to lanceolate, 3-veined in E. andamanensis) dorsal sepal with acute, slightly cucullate apex (vs. acute to acuminate, sometimes mucronate apex in E. andamanensis); obliquely narrowly oblong-elliptic, 5-veined (vs. obliquely linear to lanceolate, 3-veined in E. andamanensis) lateral sepals; narrowly elliptic labellum, sidelobes triangular lobules bearing obtusely acute apex and overall length of the side lobe greater than half of the length of labellum (vs. broadly elliptic to almost rounded side lobes bearing obtuse to round apex and overall length of sidelobes less than half of length of the labellum in E. andamanensis) and 0.15–0.2 cm long (vs. 0.3–0.4 cm long in E. andamanensis) spur.
description: Published as part of Naive, Mark Arcebal K., Hein, Khant Zaw, Kumar, Pankaj & Ormerod, Paul, 2022, Eulophia myanmarica (Orchidaceae), a new species from Myanmar and notes on Geodorum densiflorum, pp. 288-294 in Phytotaxa 548 (2) on pages 289-292, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.548.2.11, http://zenodo.org/record/6597569