Luisia megamalaiana Karupp. & V.Ravich., 2019

Luisia megamalaiana Karupp. & V.Ravich. View in CoL sp. nov. ( Figs. 1 View FIGURE 1 , 2 View FIGURE 2 )

Type:— INDIA . Tamil Nadu: Theni District, Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary, near Kardana Estate , 10 Nov. 2016. Karuppusamy & Ravichandran 864 (holotype: MH ; isotype: The Madura College, Madurai ).

The new species differs from the allied species L. tenuifolia in its stem ca. 20 cm long with 0.5–1.0 cm internode, young stem wooly; leaves 8–10 per stem, tip without apicule; pedicel with ovary ca. 6.3 cm long; flowers 3 × 5 cm ( Table 1 View TABLE 1 ).

Epiphytic herbs. Stem scandent, 15–20 cm long, 0.6 cm in diam., internode 0.8–1.0 cm long, covered with persistent leaf bases, young stem wooly, pale green. Leaves 8–10 per shoot, distichous, 0.5 cm apart, subcylindric, 7.0–10.0 × 0.3 cm, green, glaucous, with a shallow groove on the ventral side, tip obtuse to acute, not apiculate. Inflorescence an axillary raceme, 1 cm long with 1–3-flowered, opening successively. Pedicellate ovary 6.3 cm long. Flowers 3 × 5 cm. Sepals pale green, flushed with pale purple, dorsal sepal equal to laterals, 2.5 × 0.5 cm, linear-oblong, boat-shaped, not incurved, acute at apex. Petals pinkish green with purplish blotches above, linear-oblong, slightly shorter than the lateral sepals, not incurved, acute at apex. Lip 4.5 × 2.5 cm, broadly ovate to ovate-orbicular, broader at the middle, basal lobes auricled, distinctly 4-lobed at apex, lobes divergent, apical lobes larger, 0.7 × 0.3 cm, obtuse to subacute, margin serrate, lateral lobes smaller than the apical, triangular, 0.3 × 0.1 cm, with undulate margins, acute at apex, middle part of the lip conspicuously concave and basal part speckled uniformly with metallic-purple, deep reddish purple with white margin on the upper portions. Callus prominently 3-ridged. Column yellow, 0.6 cm long. Anther cap yellow; pollinia two, rounded, bright yellow. Stipe strap-shaped, without basal disc. Fruit spindle shaped, green, strongly 6-ribbed, trigonous, 4–6 cm long, with persistent calyx lobes.

PHENOLOGY:— Flowering September–January.

HABITAT:— Evergreen forest on trunks of Syzygium species, 1400–1600 m.

ETYMOLOGY:— Named after the type locality, Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary, southern Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu.

CONSERVATION STATUS:— Known only from a small area in Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary in the Western Ghats along the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and thus it should be designated as data deficient (DD; IUCN 2012) until the completion of a diversity assessment.