Dinema (plant)

Dinema
Dinema polybulbon
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Tribe: Epidendreae
Subtribe: Laeliinae
Genus:
Lindl.
Species:
D. polybulbon
Binomial name
Dinema polybulbon
(Sw.) Lindl.
Synonyms[1]
  • Epidendrum polybulbon Sw.
  • Encyclia polybulbon (Sw.) Dressler
  • Bulbophyllum occidentale Spreng.
  • Epidendrum polybulbon var. luteoalbum Miethe
  • Epidendrum cubincola Borhidi
  • Dinema cubincola (Borhidi) H.Dietr.

Dinema is a genus of orchids. It is represented by a single currently accepted species, Dinema polybulbon, native to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.[2]

Description

They are epiphytes or lithophytes; with pseudobulbs 10 mm long and 6 mm wide, spaced 1–1.5 cm apart on the creeping rhizome, slightly compressed, yellowish-green, apically bi-foliate. The leaves are 15 mm long and 8 mm wide, obtuse, emarginate, shiny green. The inflorescence is uniflora or rarely with 2 flowers, terminal, the flowers 15 mm in diameter, the sepals and the petals are yellowish-brown, the lip is white to yellowish-white with the yellow nail, the column is white with purple spots; the sepals 9 mm long and 2 mm wide, shortly acuminate; petals 9 mm long and 1.5 mm wide; the simple lip, 9 mm long and 6 mm wide, unguiculate, adnate to the base of the spine, with the disc dilated and with undulated edges, thickened nail 2 mm wide; the column is 5 mm long, with 2 conspicuous extensions at the apex, the anther is terminal, pollinia 4; ovary 15 mm long, pedicellate. The fruits are ellipsoid capsules[3]

Distribution

It is found in Mexico, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba and Jamaica. Uncommon species in habitat, found in humid mixed forests, at an altitude of 1000–1400 meters; it blooms in November, and bears fruit in August.

Taxonomy

This species can be recognized by the small size, the relatively large solitary flowers, the simple white to yellowish-white lip, and the cornicle-shaped extensions of the column. It is a monotypic genus.

Dinema polybulbon was described by (Sw.) Lindl. and published in The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants 111. 1831

Synonyms
  • Epidendrum polybulbon Sw., Prodr.: 124 (1788).
  • Encyclia polybulbon (Sw.) Dressler, Brittonia 13: 265 (1961).
  • Bulbophyllum occidentale Spreng., Syst. Veg. 3: 732 (1826).
  • Epidendrum polybulbon var. luteoalbum Miethe, Orchis 8: 33 (1914).
  • Epidendrum cubincola Borhidi, Acta Bot. Acad. Sci. Hung. 22: 295 (1976 publ. 1977).
  • Dinema cubincola (Borhidi) H.Dietr., Wiss. Z. Friedrich-Schiller-Univ. Jena, Math.-Naturwiss. Reihe 29: 524 (1980)

References

  1. ^ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. ^ la Croix, Isobyl (2008). The New Encyclopedia of Orchids: 1500 Species in Cultivation. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0881928761.
  3. ^ "Dinema polybulbon". Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden: Flora de Nicaragua. Retrieved 21 May 2010.