Orchids of New Guinea

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Pseudovanilla foliata

Pseudovanilla foliata (F.Muell.) Garay, Bot. Mus. Leafl. 30, 4 (1986) 235

Synonyms:

Erythrorchis foliata (F.Muell.) F.Muell., Fragm. 2 (1861) 167 (in syn.)
Galeola foliata (F.Muell.) F.Muell., Fragm. 8 (1873) 31
Galeola ledgeriana F.Muell., Fragm. 11 (1881) 127 (in obs., nom. illeg.)
Ledgeria foliata F.Muell., Fragm. 2 (1861) 167
- Type: Collector? s.n. (Hastings R.); s.n. (Moreton Isl.) / or: Fitzalan s.n. (Pine R.) (holo MEL)?
Galeola altissima F.Muell., Fragm. 7 (1871) 135 (non Blume)
- Type: Australia
Galeola ledgeri F.Muell. ex Fitzg., Austral. Orch. 2 (1885) 2, t.
Galeola vanilloides Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1911) 29
- Type: Schlechter 18504; 19035 (B, lost)
Pseudovanilla vanilloides (Schltr.) Garay, Bot. Mus. Leafl. 30, 4 (1986) 236

Basionym: Ledgeria foliata

Tall climber; roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous. Stem flexuose, terete, glabrous, to 0.9 cm diam., laxly leafy. Leaves elliptical, to 8 by 2.5 cm, acute or subacute, glabrous, somewhat fleshy, with more or less undulate margins. Inflorescence large, much branching, lax, branches at their apex densely 4- to 8-flowered; rachis slightly swollen. Floral bracts minute, deltoid. Sepals oblong-ligulate, 2.6 by 0.6 cm, obtuse, glabrous. Lateral sepals oblique. Petals narrowly subfalcate-ligulate, subobtuse, glabrous, mid-vein on outside thickened, as long as the sepals, 0.4 cm wide. Lip in outline broadly elliptic, 2.1 by 1.6 cm, with the short claw adnate to the column, near the apex indistinctly 3-lobed, with undulate margins; lateral lobes abbreviated-rounded; mid-lobe semiorbicular, indistinctly notched; lip inside with irregular protuberances and in the basal half covered with rather long obtuse warts; median keel double, dilated towards the apex, acute, extending from the base of the lip to the middle. Column semiterete, slender, towards the apex gradually slightly dilated, glabrous, 1 cm long; clinandrium subcrenulate. Anther almost square-cucullate, glabrous, in front subretuse. Ovary cylindrical, glabrous, c. 1 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914, as Galeola vanilloides Schltr.)

Colours:

Flowers white, becoming yellow with age, lip with pink veins.

Habitat:

Terrestrial climber in forest, sometimes in disturbed places, rooting in decaying wood; 90 to 1000 m.

Distribution:

Malesia (New Guinea), Australia, Solomon Islands.

Distribution New Guinea:

Papua New Guinea. See map

Flowering time in the wild:

September, October, December.

References:

Schlechter, R., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 21 (1923) t. 14, fig. 43, as Galeola vanilloides Schltr.
Dockrill, A. W., Austral. Indig. Orchids 1 (1969) 228, fig., as Galeola foliata (F.Muell.) F.Muell.
O'Byrne, P., Lowland Orchid. Papua New Guinea (1994) 10, fig.

Classification:

Family Orchidaceae
Subfamily Vanilloideae
Tribe Vanilleae
Subtribe Not used
Genus Pseudovanilla
Species Pseudovanilla foliata