A NEW VANDA (ORCHIDACEAE) FROM THE PHILIPPINES VANDA BARNESII

WESLEY E. HIGGINS AND MARTIN MOTES

THE LAND-LOCKED Cordillera Administrative Region encompasses most of the central moun­tain range of Luzon, the largest range in the

Philippines. This region is home to numerous indige­nous tribes collectively called the Igorot. The native culture is largely undisturbed since the Spanish were unable to establish an administrative presence in the region until after 1850. The scenery is dominated by rice terraces that were cut out of the mountain side, looking like a stairway into the clouds. These agricul­tural areas have replaced most of the pine forest ecosys­tem that once filled the deep ravines. The present Mountain Province, (2,097 sq. km.), is so rugged and high (2,922 m or 9,587 ft) that frost has been known to occur.

When Danilo A Tiu (1984) described V javierae he excluded a Latin description which made the name invalid at the time. In 1987, Carson Barnes imported a group of Vanda roeblingiana Rolfe from Mrs. Javier of the Kabukiran Orchid Nursery, Philippines; the ship­ment included a couple of plants that turned out to be

l cm

B

V javierae. In 1990, Hans Fessel, and Emil Li.ickel vali­dated the name V javierae. The American Orchid Society recognized the species (CHM/ AOS) in 1997 noting: Eleven well-presented, slightly cupped flowers on one inflorescence; sepals and petals white; spurred lip white, side lobes chartreuse, keel light tan bordered mocha; column blushed lavender basally, anther cap mocha. Carson Barnes then bought ten plants labeled V javierae from White Oak Orchids; two of them are the "original" white form with a little pink and eight are a new entity.

The plant habit is like other section Roeblingiana species but the leaves are more leathery than V javierae or V roeblingiana. The lip of V barnesii generally resem­bles these related species but the flowers are carried on shorter inflorescences and are without detectable fra­grance. The lip mid-lobe apical appendages are inter­mediate in wid th between V roeblingiana and V javier­ae, less fimbriated than the former, more fimbriated than the latter. Vanda javierae is mildly fragrant, has pure white flowers with a pinkish area on the claw of

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~-----------------------------------=~~--~----~-=~------------------------------------------__j @ Floral and Vegetative Characteristics A. Profile and frontal view of flower. B. Dissected Sepals and petal. C. Side view of column. D. pollinia with stipe E. Frontal and side

view of lip and callus. F. leaf apex.

240 Orchid Digest, Oct., Nov., Dec. 2012

lip. The lip side lobes are white, and the side lobes do not ascend above the column. Vanda barnesii is lacking in fragrance. The side lobes of the lip in V barnesii are larger than V javierae and much larger than V. roeblingiana. It is darkly colored brown­ish-red with contrasting vertical stripes. The side lobes of V barnesii enve­lope the column unlike either V roeblingiana or V javierae. In V barnesii, the side-lobes of the lip are highly colored (contrast­ing spots sharply form­ing brownish-red verti­cal stripes). The side lobes of the lip consistently project a few millimeters above the column. All flower segments show very faint spotting and the lip midlobe, with a shallow central notch, is consistently more fimbriated than V javierae. The hirsute lip callus has two ridges depressed at the middle of the ridge with two tiny horns in front of the callus ridges. These differences are summarized in Table-1. According to Anna-Ruth Purificacion Conde of Purificacion Orchids in Quezon City: Vanda barnesii occurs in the Mountain Province region, north central Luzon, Philippines while V. javierae is from Nueva Viscaya province, (Luzon).

DESCRIPTION: Plant epiphytic, ascending monopodia! habit, 24-29 em tall, 19- 30 em wide; Leaves glabrous, cori­aceus, sessile, distichous, linear, conduplicate 1.5-2.5x 15-17 em, margin entire, apex sub-oblique, retuse, (oblique prae­morse); Inflorescence axillary, upright, loosely flowered cylindrical raceme, indeterminate, 12-18 em; Flower white faintly spotted red­brown, 5.7-6.5 em verti­cally and 6.3 em horizon­tally; floral bracts acute, dry, brown, 0.5 em long;

sepal white with faint red­brown spotting, oblong, entire, 2.2 (flattened) x 2.0 em; Lateral sepals white with faint red-brown spotting, obovate, truncate, entire, 1.7 x 2.6 em; Petals white faintly spotted red­brown, spatulate, obtuse, entire, 2.5 x 2.7 em; Column foot 0.3 x 0.3 em; Spur obtuse, 0.4 x 1.0 em; Labellum white, 3-lobed; midlobe hourglass-shaped (horarium informibus), minutely spot­ted, apex lu nate, frimbriated, base flared, pubescent, overlaid yellow­brown 1.4 x 1.2 em; side-lobes obovate, truncate, striped red-brown, 0.7 x 1 em, encompassing column; Callus two ridges with two tiny horns in front of callus ridges; Column white, beaked, stout, 0.25 x 0.4 x 0.9 em; Anther cap dull white, vertical edges marked red­brown, 0.4 x 0.5 em; Pollinia two, spherical, connected by a stipe, 0.2 x 0.2cm.

The authors do not feel Vanda barne­sii is a hybrid from V javieri and V roe­blingiana for two reasons: first and most important, the side lobes of this new entity are larger than either of the other species. Second, our experience with V roeblingiana in hybridization is that the fringed apex of the midlobe disappears entirely in its hybrids. The most likely case here is that we have

Vanda barnesii - front view, top; side view, bottom.

ETYMOLOGY: amed for Carson Barnes an orchid businessman that brought this plant to our attention.

two species likely with intergression between them. The color differences and the width of the lip apex are distinct.

Taxonomic Treatments Vanda barnesii W. E. Higgins et Motes, sp. nov. TYPE: Exhort. -April 2012, C. Barnes s.n. (Holotype:

SEL)

DISTRIBUTION: Reported from 1200 - 1600 meters elevation Mountain Province on the island of Luzon the Philippines by Scott Dallas of White Oak Orchids, Pacifica, CA.

Orchid Digest, Oct., Nov., Dec. 2012

Vanda section Roeblingiana Motes et W . E. Higgins section nov.

Labellum media lobus basalibus flammae

TYPE: Vanda roeblingiana Rolfe Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew (1894) 365.

Characteristics Certainly the new species, Vanda javieri and V roe­

blingiana are very closely related and belong in the same section. These three species share very similar

241

Characteristic V. javierae V. barnesii V. roeblingiana

Lip side lobes Prominent, straight, Large, curved, rising above Small, well below column

parallel column and around column

Lip side lobe color White exterior, yellow White exterior, deep White overall

interior red-brown interior

Lip Mid-lobe Narrow, to very narrowly Broadly pandurate Very broadly pandurate

pandurate

Lip Mid-lobe Apex Dentate Frimbriate Finely frimbriate

Fragrant yes no yes

Sepal & petal color Pure white White, faintly spotted red Yellow red-brown

Leaves Stiff Coriaceus Stiff

Calli 2 ridges 2 ridges, 2 horns 3low ridges

Callus Glabrous Hirsute

Basa Appendages Hirsute Hirsute

characteristics but differ from both sections Hastifera (with its thick lip ornamented with true lobules) and Deltoglossa (with thickened base to the column). The most distinctive quality the three species have in com­mon is the flared base of the midlobe. This is a charac­teristic that we see also in V arcuata J. J. Sm. (section Deltoglossa). In all three species, the flat lip is roughly pandurate but highly ornamentated. One character they share with V sanderiana Rchb.f. and V lamellata Lindl. (in all its varieties) is a cylindrical column but this pair lacks the flared base to the midlobe. V lamella­ta var. boxallii Rchb.f. and V sanderiana sharing another characteristic with these three: deeply vee-shaped leaves. The latter two also share distinctly masked lat­eral sepals which are lacking in many forms of V lamel­lata having broad leaves. Many of these other forms of V lamellata exhibit the striping in sepals and petals like V roeblingiana and the same faint spotting that occurs in V barnesii.

Eric Christenson put V roeblingiana in section Hastifera mistakenly seeing the basal flares of its broad flat lip as lobules. In Hastifera one finds true lobules and the lip is about as thick as it is broad. Rumphius aptly described the lip of V furva Lindl. as like a dog's tooth. These flares, and the lobules in section Hastifera flowers

Glabrous

Glabrous

probably have some pollination value. A close look at the section reveals that V roeblingiana was misplaced.

Vanda section Roeblingiana Vanda roeblingiana Rolfe Vanda javierae D.Tiu ex Fessel & Liickel Vanda barnesii W. E. Higgins et Motes

References Tiu, Danilo A. 1984. Vanda javierae as 'javieriae' in

Philipp. Orch. Rev. A6 (2): 16. Fessel, Hans and Liickel, Emil. 1990. Vanda javierae

D.Tiu ex Fessel & Liickel -in- Orchidee (Hamburg) 41(4): 146.

Wesley E. Higgins Botanist, Lake Park Botanical Gardens Fort Myers, Florida E-mail: Higgins@alumni. ufl.edu

Martin Motes Motes Orchids, Inc. E-mail: martinmotes@gmail.com

Date of Publication: October 1, 2012

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242

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Orchid Digest, Oct., ov., Dec. 2012