Lankesterella

Lankester Ella gnomus

Lankester Ella is a genus of the orchid family ( Orchidaceae). It consists of twelve species of herbaceous plants that are native to tropical America.

Description

The Lankester Ella species are very small, evergreen, epiphytic growing plants. The slender, cylindrical roots are fleshy and hairy. The leaves are dense in a rosette. You are elliptically shaped to lanceolate, pointed ending, wedge-shaped at the base, or merging into a grooved on the top of the petiole. They are shiny green, ciliate at the edge.

The terminal, racemose, hairy inflorescence is erect or slightly arched, overhanging, it has no bracts. The few flowers are loose and einseitswendig on the inflorescence. The flowers are relatively large in relation to the plant, its color is white and green. The ovary is sessile or very short-stalked, fusiform, slightly hairy. The sepals are hairy on the outside, spread or together inclined to a tube. The dorsal sepal is partially fused with the column. The lateral sepal shape with the base of the column, a recess or a spur. The petals stick to the bottom half on the dorsal sepal, the front half is free. The lip is not narrowed to the base, with the lateral sepal and pedestal to form a Nectary. The column is rather short, slightly curved, it extends well beyond the point of attachment on the ovary out ( " pillar "). The scar consists of two surfaces, which may be close together or connected. The stamen is oval - shaped hood, it ends pointed, the filament is clearly visible, but adherent to tissue of the column ( Klinandrium ). The column forms the side of the dust sheet often two slightly pointed staminodes. The pollinia are narrow club-shaped with a clear, oval Viscidium ( viscid ). The separation layers between stamen and stigma ( rostellum ) is narrowly triangular, it ends pointed. In some species, self-pollination is the rule: here lack the rostellum, the scar is at the end of the column right next to the stamen.

Occurrence

Lankester Ella occurs in the Caribbean, Central America ( Costa Rica and Panama) and South America along the Andes and then again in southeastern Brazil. The species occur at altitudes up to 2700 meters before. The sites are shaded more humid forests, where the plants grow as epiphytes on the trunk and the lower branches.

Systematics and botanical history

Lankester Ella is classified within the tribe Cranichideae in the subtribe Spiranthinae. A closely related genus is Eurystyles. Especially vegetative characteristics combine these genera, while details of the flower are different.

The genus Lankester Ella was described in 1923 by Oakes Ames. The name honors Charles Herbert Lankester (1879 - 1969). The type species at Ames was Lankester Ella costaricensis, which is considered as a synonym of Lankester Ella orthantha.

The following species are counted to Lankester Ella:

• Lankester Ella alainii Nir
• Lankester Ella ceracifolia ( Barb.Rodr. ) Mansf.
• Lankester Ella glandula Ackerman
• Lankester Ella orthantha ( Kraenzl. ) Garay
• Lankester Ella parvula ( Kraenzl. ) Pabst
• Lankester Ella Salehi Pabst

Documents

The information in this article come from mainly:

• Leslie A. Garay: 225 (1). Orchidaceae ( Cypripedioideae, Orchidoideae and Neottioideae ). In: Gunnar Harling, Benkt Sparre (eds.): Flora of Ecuador. 9, 1978, ISSN 0347-8742, pp. 231-234.
• Leslie A. Garay: A generic revision of the Spiranthinae. In: Botanical Museum Leaflets of Harvard University. 28, No. 4, 1982, pp. 330-331.
• Alec M. Pridgeon, Phillip Cribb, Mark W. Chase and Finn Rasmussen ( ed.): Genera Orchidacearum. Orchidoideae (Part 2). Vanilloideae. 3/2, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford 2003, ISBN 0-19-850711-9, pp. 217-219.

Furthermore, quoting:

Postgraduate

• List of Orchid Genera

• Orchids
• Orchidaceae