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(Last Modified On 11/8/2012)
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(Last Modified On 11/8/2012)
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Genus
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SOBRALIA Ruiz & Pavon
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PlaceOfPublication
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Fl. Peruv. & Chil. Prodr. 120, t. 26. 1794.
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Synonym
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Fregea Reichb. f. in Bot. Zeit. 10:712. 1852. Lindsayella Ames & Schweinf. in Bot. Mus. Leafl. Harv. Univ. 5:33. 1935.
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Description
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Large or small, reed-like, terrestrial or epiphytic herbs. Leaves pergameneous, plicate-veined, sessile, usually few. Inflorescence a terminal raceme or often re- duced to 1 flower; flowers fugaceous in Panamanian species. Sepals equal or nearly so, erect or somewhat spreading, connate at their bases. Petals similar to the sepals but usually broader. Lip erect, from the base of the column, usually covering or enfolding the column, simple, retuse or 3-lobed, usually concave, a little longer than the sepals and petals, often undulate or fimbriate; the disc smooth, lamellate or lamellate-cristate, usually with inconspicuous or conspicuous callus thickenings at the base. Column elongated', semi-terete, more or less arcuate, with narrow wings (auricles) or acute angles at the apex, footless; anther incumbent; pollinia 8, granular or subceraceous.
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Note
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A small tropical American genus, possibly with its center of distribution in Panama. Difficult to work because of the fugaceous flowers. Fregea, a genus described by Reichenbach, has been maintained as distinct but has no characters which will separate it from Sobralia.-The original specimen was collected in Chiriqui. Lindsayella, a genus based on specimens from Panama, seems to have no char- acters of generic value. The main segregation character is the callus at the base of the lip. Rather than a generic character these calluses seem to be the culmina- tion of a tendency within the genus Sobralia. Our knowledge of this genus in Panama is entirely inadequate. A large num- ber of the species presumed to grow there were described by Reichenbach from material collected by Warscewicz, and of many of them nothing further is known. Paul H. Allen, long a resident of Panama and the keenest collector of orchids who has been in the country, is inclined to believe that many of the Warscewicz Sobralias which were ascribed to Panama were actually collected elsewhere. Mr. Allen writes that when Sobralias are present in the Panama flora they are apt to be quite abundant; yet he has not been able to discover many of the species that Warscewicz is said to have collected in Chiriqui Province although he has collected the same area many times. We have not been able to make a satisfactory key to this genus because many of the species are practically unknown and require more study, as a whole, than is possible now.
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