Schiekia orinocensis subsp. silvestris
Content
Description
Herbs 20-60 cm tall; rhizomes horizontally creeping, to over 30 cm long, 0.5-1 cm in diam.Leaves thickened, scattered, 20-50 cm long, (0.9-)1.2-3(-3.5) cm wide. Thyrse not exceeding the leaves, 3-12(-23) cm long, 1.5-9 cm wide, cincinni 5-25-flowered; number of cataphylls 0-2; primary bracts 0.3-1.1 cm long; floral bracts 0.1-0.4 cm long. Flowers with tepals 5-7 x 1-2 mm, the 3 abaxial tepals reflexed; abaxial stamen 4-5 mm long, the 2 adaxial ones 2-3 mm long, staminodes 3-4 mm long; style ca. 3 mm long. Capsule 3-5 mm long, 4-6 mm in diam.
Distribution
Amazonian Colombia present, Guianas present present, Southern America: Venezuela (Venezuela present)
Amazonian Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and the Guianas; known from the 3 Guianas; 7 collections studied (GU: 2; SU: 2; FG: 3).
Notes
The species Schiekia orinocensis is subdivided here into 2 subspe- cies, 1 of them roughly representing the forest plants (Schiekia orinocensis subsp. silvestris ), and the typical subspecies comprising the savanna plants. Within these subspecies the plants are again rather variable. One might discern a form characterized by very narrow leaves and few cata- phylls from the Venezuelan savannas as Maguire and Wurdack did in their subspecies savannarum (1957). Plants from Matto Grosso in Brazil are characterized by broad leaves, many cataphylls, and many-flowered cin- cinni. However, in our opinion the rate of variation is too large to discern more than 2 subspecies within Schiekia orinocensis . Maguire and Wur- dack (1957) state that the tepals of the extreme savanna form are basically white with orange stripes, whereas the extreme woodland form has solid orange tepals. The flowers of Schiekia have a definitely zygomorphic perianth, the 3 abaxial tepals and the 3 adaxial tepals being basally connate creating a more or less bilabiate appearance of the flower, the lips being separated by basal slitlike pouches (Fig. 42 B). Here again there is a difference between the savanna subspecies and the forest subspecies: the 3 abaxial tepals forming the "lower lip" of the flower are definitively reflexed in subsp. silvestris, but in subsp. orinocensis the 3 abaxial tepals toget- her with the adaxial ones form a quite tubular flower (Fig. 41 B). The reflexed tepals may function as a landing platform for pollinators in subsp. si/vestris, the differently shaped flower of subsp. orinocensis may suggest a different pollinator.