Papilionanthe motuoensis J. D. Ya & D. Z. Li 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Ya, Ji-Dong
name: Wang, Wan-Ting
name: Liu, Yun-Long
name: Jiang, Hong
name: Han, Zhou-Dong
name: Zhang, Ting
name: Huang, Hua
name: Cai, Jie
name: Li, De-Zhu
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Liliopsida
Asparagales
Orchidaceae
Papilionanthe
Papilionanthe motuoensis

description: 3. Papilionanthe motuoensis J.D.Ya & D.Z.Li sp. nov.  
(墨脱凤蝶兰 Mo Tuo Feng Die Lan) Figs 6, 7A-C  
Diagnosis.  
 Papilionanthe motuoensis is similar to P. uniflora (Lindl.) Garay but differs in having a glabrous pedicel and ovary (vs. glandular-pubescent). Its lateral petals are oblong-ovate (vs. oblong) with irregularly denticulate margins (vs. with undulating margins), truncate apices (vs. obtuse apices). Its labellum is white tinged with yellow (vs. uniformly white), with a subflabellate mid-lobe and a labellum base with an apically dilate to reniform claw, its apex is emarginated with an irregularly denticulate margin (vs. mid-lobe simple, oblong, apex widely cuneate).   
Type.  
China. Yunnan, Kunming, voucher from cultivated plants at Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS, 20 Oct. 2020 (flowering), J.-D. Ya BC201015 (holotype: KUN!), plants originally collected from Tibet (Xizang), Linzhi City, Motuo County, 1625 m, at the edge of a subtropical, evergreen, broadleaved forest.  
Description.  
Stems pendulous, terete, to 50 cm, 2.0 mm in diam. branched, enclosed in leaf sheaths. Leaves laxly alternate, terete, 9-16 × 0.2 cm, base with amplexicaul-sheathing, apex apiculate; sheaths tubular, 2.0-2.8 cm long, glabrous. Inflorescence ca. 1.5 cm, usually 1-2-flowered; peduncle slender, ca. 1.3 cm; floral bracts ovate-triangular, 1.5 × 1.2 mm. Flowers 2.5 cm in diam. sepals and lateral petals white, mid-vein pink, labellum white tinged with yellow, its spur with a whitish and/or pink tinge, apex yellowish green. Pedicel and ovary, ca. 1.2 cm long, glabrous. Dorsal sepal ovate, ca. 1.0 × 0.5 cm, acute, 5-veined; lateral sepals oblong, slightly falcate, ca. 1.1 × 0.4 cm, acuminate, 5-veined; lateral petals oblong-ovate, 1.1 × 0.6 cm, margin irregularly denticulate, apices truncate, 7-veined; labellum adnate to column foot, 3-lobed; lateral lobes deeply bifid, unequal, linear, acute, long lobule ca. 7.0 × 2.0 mm, short lobule ca. 4.0 × 1.0 mm; mid-lobe spreading, subflabellate, ca. 4.8 × 5.0 cm, base with a claw ca. 2.2 × 2.0 mm, apical dilate to reniform, apex emarginate, margin irregularly denticulate; spur slightly curved forward, cylindrical, ca. 22.0 × 3.5 mm, narrowing towards the terminus, its interior pubescent. Column 7.0 × 3.0 mm, foot ca 5.2 mm, with narrowly and entire wings decurrent to foot; anther cap galeate with a acuminate apex, 2.0 × 2.5 mm; pollinia 2, subglobose, ca. 1.0 mm in diameter, waxy, porate, attached by a stipe to a broad cellular viscidium.   
Phenology.  
Observed flowering in October.  
Etymology.  
 The specific epithet " Papilionanthe motuoensis " refers to the type locality Motuo (Medog) County.   
Additional specimens examined.  
 Tibet (Xizang), Linzhi City, Motuo County, Bangxin Xiang, 1330 m, from subtropical, evergreen, broadleaved forest. Oct. 2019, M.-K. Li and W. Wang 2019343 (paratypes, Herbarium of Tibet Agricultural and Animal Husbandry University, No. 8 Xueyuan Road, Bayi District, Nyingchi, Tibet). P. uniflora: Nepal. Gosain Than, N. Wallich no. 1993 (K001114863!); India, Mao, C.B. Clarke 41790 (K000891405!)   
Distribution and habitat.:  
The new epiphytic species was found only in Motuo County, Tibet (Xizang), China, growing on limbs in a subtropical, evergreen, broadleaved forest at elevations of 1300-1650 m.
description: Published as part of Ya, Ji-Dong, Wang, Wan-Ting, Liu, Yun-Long, Jiang, Hong, Han, Zhou-Dong, Zhang, Ting, Huang, Hua, Cai, Jie & Li, De-Zhu, 2023, Five new and noteworthy species of Epidendroideae (Orchidaceae) from southwestern China based on morphological and phylogenetic evidence, pp. 211-236 in PhytoKeys 235 on page 211, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.235.111230