Pterichis yungasensis Schltr.

6. Pterichis yungasensis Schltr. View in CoL — Fig. 9 View Fig

Pterichis yungasensis Schltr.(1922) 37. — Type: O. Buchtien s.n. (US? – not localized), Bolivia, La Paz, Unduavi , July 1907.

Plant about 40 cm tall, leafless during flowering. Scape erect, terete, apically glandular-puberulent, with 5 tubular, acuminate sheaths. Inflorescence racemose, laxly few-flowered, rachis glandular-puberulent. Floral bracts c. 13 mm long, elliptic, acuminate. Pedicellate ovary c. 13 mm long, densely glandular-puberulent. Dorsal sepal c. 9 by 4.5 mm, ovate, obtuse, externally densely glandular-puberulent, 3-veined. Lateral sepals c. 9 by 4.9 mm, obliquely ovate, obtuse, externally densely glandular-puberulent, 3-veined. Petals c. 13 by 4 mm, free, ba- sally ligulate, apical half elliptic to lanceolate, obtuse, glabrous, 3-veined. Lip c. 7 by 12–14 mm, cucullate-concave, reniform in outline, base truncate; apical lobe oblong-triangular, papillose, recurved; disc minutely papillose, 13–15-veined, ornamented with numerous rounded glands along the margin. Gynostemium c. 3.5 mm long.

Distribution — Endemic to Bolivia.

Habitat & Ecology — No data.

Notes — When Schlechter (1922) described the Bolivian en- demic P. yungasensis , he compared it to Peruvian P. leucoptera ( Fig. 6 View Fig ). The latter species is characterized by a sublunate lip produced into an oblong apical lobule. Other similar species are P. acuminata and P. galeata . However, unlike in P. yungasensis , the petals of P. acuminata ( Fig. 3 View Fig ) are widened near the middle (subrhombic in outline). Pterichis yungasensis can be distinguished from P. galeata ( Fig. 5 View Fig ) by the lack of prominent lip auricles (such auricles are observed in P. galeata ).

Vasquez et al. (2014) referred to the specimen Vásquez C. 2491 as representative of Bolivian P. yungasensis , which should be deposited in herb. Vásquez, but we did not find this plant in the collection.

The type specimen collected by Buchtien has been not localized in US or any other visited herbarium. In the course of the study we found some unnumbered collections made by Buchtien but none of these was collected in the area where the type of P. yungasensis was found. Also none of Buchtien’s examined specimens did fit the morphological characteristic of this species. For that reason here we refer to Schlechter’s illustration and description of P. leucoptera .