Species Information - Stigmatodactylus croftianus

Stigmatodactylus croftianus (Kores) Kores, Novon 2, 3 (1992) 212

Type:

Synonyms:

• Pantlingia croftiana (Kores) Schuit., Blumea 39 (1994) 236
• Acianthus croftianus Kores, Lindleyana 6 (1991) 168, fig. 3
  - Type: Kores & Surry WEI 1679 (holo BISH)

Basionym: Acianthus croftianus

Small, erect herb, 5-14 cm tall; subterranean tubers globose, 1-2 mm in diam., finely villose. Stem slender, angular, 5-8 cm long, glabrous, enclosed at base by 1-3 cataphylls; cataphylls clasping, 5-7 mm long, 1-nerved, distally free for 3-5 mm, the free portion acute. Leaf cordate, 15-22 mm long, 10-16 mm broad, the base decurrent with the stem along the lateral edges, the apex abruptly acuminate or apiculate, the margin undulate. Inflorescence to 4 cm tall, laxly 1- to 3-flowered. Floral bracts broadly ovate, 5-6 mm long, 5-7 mm broad, 3- to 5-nerved, at the base rounded or truncate, apex broadly acuminate. Flowers ascending. Sepals slightly dissimilar, broadly spreading, linear-subulate, 9-12 mm long, about 0.5 mm broad, 1-nerved, glabrous, the apex narrowly acute. Petals spreading, linear-subulate, 7-10 mm long, about 0.5 mm broad, 1-nerved, glabrous, the apex subulate. Lip patent and usually slightly curved distally, broadly elliptic, 6-7 mm long, 5-6 mm broad, 7 or 9-nerved, the base truncate, the apex broadly obtuse and ultimately minutely apiculate, the point reflexed, 0.25-0.5 mm long, the lateral margins minutely crenulate distally, the disc with a single, large callus near the base and rarely with a few scattered, tooth-like accessory calli, the main callus prominently 3-lobed, 3-4 mm long, about 0.75 mm broad, about 1.5 mm tall, densely minutely pubescent throughout, the lateral lobes slightly longer than the mid-lobe, several or less parallel, almost completely divided into 4-6 pairs of weakly ascending, blunt teeth, 0.25-0.5 mm long, the mid-lobe strongly ascending, aliform, rather thick and weakly channelled distally along the upper margin, the apex inflexed, narrowly acute. Column 3-5 mm long, the basal 2/3 with a hyaline keel along the ventral surface, the keel with an acutely mucronate, wing-like appendage at apex, the apical 1 /3 of column with two pairs of teeth along lateral edges of ventral surface; pollinia four, mealy, obliquely subdeltoid, about 0.7 mm long, about 0.4 mm broad, the viscidium small, transversely oblong; stigma transversely obovate, with a prominent, porrect, obtuse tooth along ventral margin. Ovary cylindrical, 3-5 mm long, about 1 mm in diam., 6-grooved; capsule fusiform, 8-10 mm long by about 4 mm in diam. (After Kores, 1991)

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