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| Claderia leontocampus Niissalo, in Niissalo, Leong, Tay, Choo, Kurzweil et Khew, 2023. Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore. 75(1) |
A little-studied orchid genus, Claderia Hook.f., has until now contained just one or two species, Claderia viridiflora Hook.f. and its possible synonym, C. papuana Schltr. We describe a new species from Singapore, which differs from these Claderia in having small, cream-yellow flowers that are nodding and presented in a long, unbranched terminal inflorescence, mostly with two flowers open simultaneously. We name the new species Claderia leontocampus Niissalo. Plants of the new species have been collected or recorded in Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and possibly Peninsular Thailand. We carried out population genetics analyses to show distinction between the new species and Claderia viridiflora. The two species occur in the same habitat in Singapore. We used phylogenetic analyses to find out the phylogenetic position of Claderia within Orchidaceae; the genus is here considered to belong to subfamily Epidendroideae Kostel., tribe Epidendreae Lindl., subtribe Claderiinae Szlach. We publish the plastome and ITS sequences of Claderia viridiflora. Two names are lectotypified.
Keywords. Epidendroideae, ITS, plastome, population genetics, Singapore
Claderia leontocampus Niissalo, sp. nov.
Similar to Claderia viridiflora Hook. f. but differs from it in having narrower flowers (2.5 cm vs 5 cm in C. viridiflora), which are pendulous and cream-yellow (upright and bright green in C. viridiflora) with narrower lip midlobe (7 mm wide vs 12 mm wide or more in C. viridiflora). The inflorescences mostly have two flowers open simultaneously, along with many developing buds, instead of one flower developing and open at a time in Claderia viridiflora.
Distribution and ecology. Singapore, Malaysia (Perlis), Indonesia (Sumatra), and possibly Thailand (Nakhon Si Thammarat). In Singapore, it occurs in old secondary lowland forest on well-drained soil, in the area between Upper Seletar Reservoir and Upper Peirce Reservoir.
Etymology. The epithet is our Greek translation of Merlion, a symbol of Singapore, which is the type locality of the species.
M.A. Niissalo, P.K.F. Leong, F.E.L. Tay, L.M. Choo, H. Kurzweil & G.S. Khew. 2023. A New Species of Claderia (Orchidaceae). Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore. 75(1); 21–41.
https://www.nparks.gov.sg/sbg/research/publications/gardens'-bulletin-singapore/-/media/sbg/gardens-bulletin/gbs_75_01_y2023/75_01_02_y2023_v7501_gbs_pg21.ashx
