Porpax reticosa (Wight) Schuit., Malesian Orchid J.

Porpax reticosa (Wight) Schuit., Malesian Orchid J. 24: 107. 2020. Eria reticosa Wight, Icon. Pl. Ind. Orient. 5, 1: 4, t. 1637. 1851. Lectotype (designated here): INDIA , perhaps Pycarrah, s.d., Herb. Griffith, Wight s.n. (K [K000260012!]). Residual syntype: INDIA , peninsular India, Herb. Wight 2960 (K [K000881644!]).

Eria rupestris Blatt & McCann, J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 35(2): 270, t. 6. 1931. Type: INDIA, Panchgani Tableland , above Convent, May Langham 231 (holo BLAT n.v.).

An epiphytic orchid endemic to India can be easily distinguished from other species by pseudobulbs close to and completely masking the rhizome, presence of a loose net-like reticulate sheath on pseudobulbs, presence of leaves during flowering, a singular flower, acute to acuminate sepals and petals, and a distinctly 3-lobed lip ( Agrawala, 2009).

Three sheets and a line drawing housed at K refer to Eria uniflora Dalzell. The sheet (K000827409) has four specimens and two flowers with Dalzell’s label as ‘ Dendrobium which I propose to be called uniflorum ’. In the absence of the name Eria uniflora , it is not selected as the lectotype. The sheet K000260013 has sixteen specimens and is labelled in Dalzell’s hand as ‘ Eria uniflora ’. As it bears William Hooker’s annotation as ‘ Bombay Dalzell’ it appears to have been communicated by Dalzell himself to Hooker, and hence selected here as the lectotype. Another sheet at K, has three stamps of ‘Herbarium Hookerianum’ which indicates that it must be the gathering of three different collections: two of them, K000827405 and K000827406 belong to Dalzell; the latter has two labels: one label is in Dalzell’s hand, ‘ Eria uniflora mihi in Hook. Jour.’, while the other labels are in Stocks’s hand, ‘Concan on trees in the rainy season on the Ghauts’. Orchidae no. 24’. Whereas collection K000827405 has a label in Dalzell’s hand that says ‘Orchideous parasite begins to sprout in May & flowers in June/ Mahabaleshwar’. Both collections may have reached K through Stocks. The line drawing at K from ‘Icones Stocks’ has been annotated in pencil by J.E. Stocks’ as ‘ Eria reticosa Wight’ and ‘ Eria uniflora Dalz. ’

Lindley (1858), while transferring his Dendrobium braccatum into Eria , cited E. reticosa and E. uniflora as synonyms. The treatment was then often followed by some authors ( Fischer, 1928; Nayar et al., 2014 as ‘ Conchidium braccatum’). However, E. braccata can be distinguished from E. reticosa by the absence of a net-like, reticulate sheath on pseudobulbs, obtuse to sub-acute sepals and petals, and an obscurely 3-lobed lip ( Agrawala, 2009). Dalzell was unaware of Wight’s E. reticosa and published E. uniflora barely a year later. Afterwards, he realised the priority of E. reticosa over the latter and published a note in the same publication reducing E. uniflora to E. reticosa . Following Agrawala (2009) and the recent circumscription of Porpax by Ng et al. (2018) and Schuiteman (2020), E. reticosa has been maintained here as Porpax reticosa .

Porpax reticosa is often considered a synonym of Pinalia reticosa (Wight) Kuntze View in CoL , which is an error. In Pinalia View in CoL , the pseudobulbs are embedded in the leaf sheath, and the inflorescence rachis is dense to sparsely lanate ( Ng et al., 2018). In our plants, the pesudobulbs are ovoid to truncate with distinct leaf scars and a glabrous pedicel. There are multiple specimens associated with Eria reticosa Wight View in CoL available at K, one of the five flowering specimens (K000260012) pasted on the top right side unequivocally agrees with Wight Icon no. 1637, and is here selected as lectotype. Noltie (2005) referred to these collections as holotype and isotypes. We are hesitant to conclude that all these collections are part of a single gathering. Therefore, we prefer the remaining collections to be residual syntypes rather than isolectotypes. The holotype citation by Noltie (2005) cannot be corrected to lectotype following Art. 9.10 of the ICN ( Turland et al., 2018) because of the requirement of Art. 7.11 to include, on or after 1 January 2001, the phrase “designated here” or an equivalent.

8. Eulophia bicolor Dalzell View in CoL , Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 3: 343. 1851. Lectotype (designated here): INDIA View in CoL , Bombay, s.d., Dalzell s.n. (K [K000078323!]); Residual syntype: (K, without barcode!; DD, Acc. No. 172598!).