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A new and unusual species of Dichaea (Orchidaceae: Zygopetalinae) from

Costa Rica

Article  in  Blumea journal of plant taxonomy and plant geography · January 2020

DOI: 10.3767/blumea.2020.65.01.06

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Franco Pupulin A. P. Karremans

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Blumea 65, 2020: 61– 64
www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nhn/blumea RESEARCH ARTICLE https://doi.org/10.3767/blumea.2020.65.01.06

A new and unusual species of Dichaea

(Orchidaceae: Zygopetalinae) from Costa Rica
F. Pupulin1,2,3, A.P. Karremans1,4

Key words Abstract   A new and florally unusual species of the genus Dichaea is described and illustrated from Costa Rica,
where it is apparently endemic, and its relationships are discussed. Dichaea auriculata is compared with the group
autogamy
of species close to D. graminoides, from which it can be distinguished by the lip with a long isthmus, provided with
Dichaeopsis
two rounded auricles at the base, instead of the sessile lip typical of the group. It is also compared with another
Flora of Costa Rica
Costa Rican endemic in the same complex, D. gracillima, from which it can be distinguished by the autogamous,
new species
mostly cleistogamous, flowers, the 3-lobed lip with rounded basal lobes, the high keel along the lip isthmus, and
plant diversity
the bifid ligule of the column. Notes on the habitat and the ecology of the new species are provided.
section Pseudodichaea
Published on   8 April 2020

INTRODUCTION a new species that completely escaped our attention during the
field work intended for the Flora. Nevertheless, this taxon is so
Dichaea Lindl. (1833: 208) species are a fairly common ele- unusual and conspicuously different in floral morphology from
ment in the understory of Costa Rican vegetation, where they any other species of the genus, that we have no hesitation in
can be observed in every kind of suitable habitat, both pristine describing it here as a species new to science with the name of:
and altered. Whilst most species inhabit the temperate and
humid regions of the Costa Rican cordilleras in the range of
TAXONOMIC TREATMENT
400 –1500 m of elevation, a few taxa span vertically to the sea-
sonal and rain forests close to sea level and to the cool, cloud Dichaea auriculata Pupulin & Karremans, sp. nov. — Fig. 1, 2;
submontane forests up to 2500 m (Pupulin 2005, 2007). Only Map 1
the driest regions of northern Pacific Costa Rica, with a dry sea-
son exceeding four months, can be considered inhospitable for Species sectionis Pseudodichaeae, ab omnibus species Dichaeae Lindl.
auriculis magis rotundatis et carina alta in basi labelli facile distinguenda;
the species of this otherwise ubiquitous genus (Pupulin 2007).
inter species foliis articulatis ovarioque glabro munitas (genus Dichaeopsem
Costa Rica is home to 29 species of genus Dichaea (Pupulin sensu Pfitzer vel coetum Dichaeae panamensis informaliter dictum), Dichaea
2007, 2010), roughly corresponding to 30 % of the whole genus, gracillima C.Schweinf. in habito formaque et dimensione floris similis sed
making this small region one of the countries with the highest floribus plerumque autogamis labello distincte trilobo lobulis basalibus rotun-
diversity in Dichaea. Costa Rica is second only to Ecuador (with datis, carina alta in isthmo labelli, ligula columnae bipartita recedit. — Type:
40 species; Dodson 2004) and Colombia (36 species, according A.P. Karremans 7333, I. Chinchilla, M. Díaz & G. Rojas-Alvarado (holo JBL),
to Ortiz Valdivieso 2016). However, when the respective size of Costa Rica, Cartago, Turrialba, Tayutic, Jicotea, N9°47'25.74" W83°32'29.45",
1014 m, epiphytic in secondary mature vegetation along the roadside, wet
these countries is taken in account in a diversity index, Costa
premontane forest, 22 Sept. 2016.
Rica has four times the Dichaea diversity of Ecuador, and more
than 15 times that of Colombia. The higher relative diversity Etymology. From the Latin auriculatus, provided with ears, in reference
of Dichaea in Costa Rica is a general trend also observed in to the small, ear-like basal lobes of the lip, unique in the genus.
Orchidaceae as a whole (Karremans & Bogarín 2013). It may Epiphytic, caespitose, patent to subpendent herb, forming in-
be that these figures reflect the greater effort made in Costa tricate masses of delicate, leafy stems. Roots produced at the
Rica to clarify the taxonomy of the genus for Flora Costaricensis base of the vegetative stems (basal) and from the lower nodes
(Pupulin 2010) when compared to other Neotropical countries, along the stem (caulinar); basal roots flexuous, long, c. 1 mm
but the position of Costa Rica on the land bridge that connects diam; caulinar roots short (the exposed portion usually less than
South America with the core Central America and the North 1 cm long), 0.5 – 0.7 mm diam. Stems slender, terete, patent to
American continent may also account for the high diversity of gently pendent, rarely suberect, up to 15 cm long, producing
its orchid flora in general terms. short lateral branches 1.5–4 cm long, completely covered by the
After the completion of the treatment of Dichaea for the Flora conduplicate, tightly to loosely clasping foliar sheaths. Sheaths
of Costa Rica, when almost one thousand specimens of this subrectangular, conduplicate, to 10 by 3 mm, articulate with
genus were collected and/or studied, it was unexpected to find the leaf, green when young, becoming dry-papyraceous when
old. Leaves linear-subacicular, 15–23 by 1.5–2.2 mm, strongly
1
Universidad de Costa Rica, Jardín Botánico Lankester, P.O. Box 302-7050 conduplicate, acuminate, the apical margins often touching
Cartago, Costa Rica; each other into a false mucron. Inflorescence lateral, 1-flow-
corresponding author e-mail: franco.pupulin@ucr.ac.cr.
ered, emerging from the axils of the upper leaves and flower-
2
Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
3
The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, Florida, USA. ing under the leaves, to 20 mm long; peduncle terete, arched,
4
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Endless Forms, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA 15 –18 mm long, covered at the base by a tubular, acuminate
Leiden, The Netherlands. bract to 6 mm long, completely hidden within the leaf-sheath.

© 2020 Naturalis Biodiversity Center

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62 Blumea – Volume 65 / 1, 2020

Floral bract double, the external bract broadly ovate-triangular, days, not completely spreading, autogamous, mostly cleistoga-
c. 3 by 1.5 mm, apex acuminate, deeply cucullate at the base, mous, with sepals and petals white to pale greenish white, the
strongly conduplicate-folded at apex; the inner bractlet ligulate, petals faintly suffused with purple, especially along the basal
c. 2.5 by 0.5 mm, apex acuminate. Ovary pedicellate, cylindric, veins, the lip white, the column white tinged with rose-purple
rounded in section, with well-marked valvate ribs, c. 2 mm long toward the apex, with distinct purple stripes along the lateral
including the pedicel. Flowers ephemeral, in anthesis for 1– 2 edges and the stigmatic rims towards the apex of the ligule.

Fig. 1   Dichaea auriculata Pupulin & Karremans. a. Habit; b. flower; c. dissected perianth; d. column and lip, lateral view (the pollinarium bent into the stigma);
e. column, three views; f. anther cap and pollinarium (three views). — Scale bars: a = 5 cm; b – c = 5 mm; d – e = 4 mm; f = 1 mm. — Drawn by F. Pupulin and
rendered by S. Poltronieri from the holotype.
F. Pupulin & A.P. Karremans: A new Dichaea species from Costa Rica 63

a b
Fig. 2   Flowers of Dichaea auriculata Pupulin & Karremans (Karremans et al. 7333). — Photos by: a. A.P. Karremans; b. F. Pupulin.

Dorsal sepal lanceolate, c. 6 by 2.5 mm, apex acute, 3-veined, c. 1 mm long. Anther cap trapezoidal, truncate-emarginate,
concave. Lateral sepals asymmetrically lanceolate, the adaxial shallowly cucullate at the base, obscurely 2-celled, c. 0.6 by
half broader, c. 5 by 2.5 mm, apex acute, 3-veined, concave. 1 mm. Pollinia 4, dorsiventrally superposed, almost similar in
Petals elliptic-lanceolate, c. 4.5 by 2 mm, apex acute to abruptly size, obovate, strongly complanate, c. 0.45 by 0.4 mm, on a
short-acuminate, 3-veined, subporrect, incurved. Lip 3-lobed triangular, apically long-attenuate stipe of c. 1 by 0.4 mm, and
from a short claw, c. 4 by 3.5 mm when spread, the rectangu- an ovate to rounded, hyaline viscidium of c. 0.3 by 0.2 mm.
lar claw c. 0.3 mm long; the lateral lobes auriculate, c. 0.6 by Fruit an ellipsoid-obovoid, glabrous capsule, c. 7 by 4 mm, the
0.6 mm, apex rounded, suberect; the midlobe sagittate from a faded floral parts drying in place.
long, obcuneate isthmus; the blade anchor-shaped, rounded, Distribution — Only known from the type locality in Costa
minutely apiculate; the lateral lobes short, truncate; the disc Rica.
provided with a high, rounded keel from the base of the lip, Habitat & Ecology — Dichaea auriculata is known from a
flushing into the blade at ± the middle portion of the isthmus. single population, found in the constantly wet and warm re-
Column semiterete, subrectangular in ventral view, c. 4 by 3 gion of the Río Tuis, which drains into the Caribbean. Plants
mm, around the stigma, apically narrowed into a shallow cli- of D. auriculata have been observed on shaded branches of
nandrium with thin, entire walls; the ventral surface provided the lower canopy, on trees of secondary mature vegetation.
with a long, triangular, distinctly bifid, glabrous ligule; the sigma Flowering: February to April, but it is probable that, once the
ventral, rounded; the anther frontal sub-incumbent, the tapetum stem has reached maturity, the plant may flower at any time of
continuous with a massive, triangular, long, attenuate rostellum the year.
Conservation status — With the actually available data, we
cannot produce a solid assessment about the conservation
status of this species. As a result of six field trips in the area
where Dichaea auriculata was discovered, we only could ob-
serve three plants surely belonging to the species, which were
subsequently cultivated and documented at Lankester Botanical
Garden. At least locally, D. auri­culata is likely not a common
species, but if we consider the enormous extent of unexplored,
suitable habitats on the Talamanca mountain range, protected
within several National Parks and indigenous reserves, then
the species is probably more common, but our data prevent
any conclusion at this stage.

DISCUSSION

Pfitzer (1887) created the genus Dichaeopsis (typified by D. gra­

minoides (Sw.) Lindl.) (Garay & Sweet 1972) to group species
of Dichaea with articulate leaves. Cogniaux (1906) retained
this concept at the sectional rank for those species with leaves
articulated to the sheaths that also have glabrous ovaries.
However, both morphological (Pupulin 2007) and molecular
analyses (Whitten et al. 2005, Neubig et al. 2009) of Dichaea
have irrefutably shown that section Dichaeopsis is polyphyletic
Map 1   Distribution of Dichaea auriculata Pupulin & Karremans (yellow and that articulate, deciduous leaves and glabrous ovaries are
square). symplesiomorphies widespread in subtribe Zygopetalinae.
64 Blumea – Volume 65 / 1, 2020

a b c

Fig. 3   Column of Dichaea auriculata Pupulin & Karremans showing autogamic pollination. a. Lateral view; b. ventral view; c. three quarters view. — Scale
bar = 4 mm. — Drawn by F. Pupulin and rendered by S. Poltronieri from the holotype.

A member of sect. Pseudodichaea Cogn., in terms of vege­ Acknowledgements   We thank the Ministerio del Ambiente y Energía
tative architecture, D. auriculata seems to belong to the so- of Costa Rica (MINAE) and Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Conservación
(SINAC) for issuing the scientific permits to collect the wild specimens used
called ‘Dichaea graminoides’ complex (Chiron et al. 2016),
for this study. Isler Chinchilla, Melissa Díaz and Gustavo Rojas-Alvarado
with plants presenting delicate stems provided with articulate, assisted in the field when the described specimen was discovered. Sara
narrow, and usually small leaves. Also the relatively small Poltronieri helped in preparing the illustrations. This study is part of the
and delicate flowers with a glabrous ovary are reminiscent of ongoing project ‘Flora Costaricensis: Orchidaceae’, supported by the Vice-
D. graminoides or one of the other Central American species Presidency of Research, University of Costa Rica.
in the complex. However, the lip with a long isthmus and two
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