Bletia purpurea (Lam.) DC.
Descripción
Plant glabrous, consisting of a short thick depressed corm bearing at the summit a few approximate leaves and a sublateral flowering branch, up to about 18 dm tall. Corm 2-3 cm in diameter, producing numerous fibrous velamentous roots. Leaves linear to narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, plicate, long-acuminate, with the lower part sheathing the scape, 2-9 dm long, 1-5 cm wide. Inflorescence a simple or paniculate raceme borne on a long slender sublateral peduncle; peduncle provided with remote tubular sheaths, 2.5-17 dm long; raceme or panicle loosely few- to many-flowered. Floral bracts mostly small, ovate-triangular to ovate-lanceolate, acute to acuminate, 2-9 mm long. Flowers pink, rose-purple or deep purple, rarely almost white, showy, with the slender pedicellate ovaries 9-18 mm long, variable in size. Dorsal sepal oblong-elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, subobtuse to acute, 1.5-2.6 cm long, 5-9 mm wide. Lateral sepals obliquely ovate-oblong to elliptic-oblong, the margins involute, 1.2-2 cm long, 5-8 mm wide abruptly acute to acuminate, with Petals obliquely ovate-oblong to elliptic or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse to acute, 1.2-2.1 cm long, 7-11 mm wide. Lip concave below, broadly cordate to ovate-cordate or cordate-subquadrate when spread out, conspicuously 3-lobed above the middle, strongly recurved in natural position, with the base truncate to subcordate, 1-1.8 cm. long, 8-14 mm. wide across the lateral lobes when expanded; lateral lobes incurved in natural position, broadly rounded at the base, tapering to a triangular-obtuse to rounded apex; mid-lobe suborbicular, truncate to deeply emarginate at the apex, with the margins undulate-crenate, 5-10 mm. wide; disc prominently veined, with five to seven yellowish lamellae extending from near the base of the lip to near the apex of the mid-lobe and with two shorter lamellae on the lateral lobes 8-12 mm long. Column strongly arcuate, clavellate, with narrow lateral wings. Capsule obliquely cylindric, erect or essentially so, reddish or chocolate-brown, 2-4.5 cm long, 8-10 mm in diameter.A
Forma de crecimiento
HierbaA
Forma de vida
TerrestreA
Nutrición
AutotróficaA
Floración
Jan–DecA
Ejemplar revisado
Municipios of Puerto Vallarta, Tomatlán, Autlán, Zapopan, M. M. Diéguez, according to Rosillo; Ixtlahuacán del Río (Rosillo!, fl Apr); 10 km N of Casimiro Castillo (Itis et al. 3117), on gypsum, 19-21 km SSW of Colima (McVaugh 26197); Huizontla, Distr. Coalcomán (Hinton 15796, ENCB, det. Williams).B
Distribución
Caribe PresenteA: Antillas Mayores PresenteA; Antillas Menores PresenteA, Centroamérica: Belice PresenteA; Costa Rica PresenteA; El Salvador PresenteA; Guatemala PresenteA; Honduras PresenteA; Nicaragua PresenteA; Panamá PresenteA, México (país): Campeche PresenteA; Chiapas PresenteA; Colima PresenteA; Guerrero PresenteA; Hidalgo PresenteA; Jalisco PresenteA; Michoacán de Ocampo PresenteA; Morelos PresenteA; México PresenteA; Nayarit PresenteA; Nuevo León PresenteA; Oaxaca PresenteA; Puebla PresenteA; Querétaro de Arteaga PresenteA; Quintana Roo PresenteA; San Luis Potosí PresenteA; Sinaloa PresenteA; Tabasco PresenteA; Tamaulipas PresenteA; Tlaxcala PresenteA; Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave PresenteA, Norteamérica al N de México: EUA (estados contiguos) PresenteA
Elevación
0 – 1800 mA
Tipo de vegetación
Selva mediana, Bosque de pino-encino, Pastizal dulceacuícola, Selva altaA
Categoría IUCN
No incluidaC
Categoría NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010
No incluidaD
Estatus del taxón
(A) Como definida actualmente, probablemente una entidad natural (monofilética)A
Discusión taxonómica
Although the Pine-pink is considered to be a terrestrial species, its fibrous roots are heavily coated with velamentous tissue such as is characteristic of epiphytic orchids. It is one of a large number of borderline species which do not fall definitely into either the "terrestrial" or the "epiphytic" category, and thus is an example of the artificiality of those categories. Perhaps, after all, the Pine-pink should be designated as a semiterrestrial or semiepiphyte. For I have seen it growing on rock ledges in thinly wooded pinelands on Big Pine Key, Monroe County, Florida, where half the length of its roots trailed over the bare hot rocks while the other half were lightly threaded through the surrounding loose litter. The corms of this widespread tropical orchid are commonly called "wild ginger" because they contain an irritating and bitter juice and are used medicinally by primitive peoples in various parts of its range. When dried, these corms are steeped to make a tea which is used as a tonic, for stomachic purposes and as an antidote for fish-poisoning. The fresh corms are also used as a curative for cuts and abrasions of the skin.A
Bibliografía
B. McVaugh, R. 1985: Flora Novo-Galiciana. A descriptive accountof the vascular plants of Western Mexico. ORCHIDACEAE 16: 28-29. – Ann Arbor The University of Michigan Press
D. SEMARNAT 2019: MODIFICACIÓN del Anexo Normativo III, Lista de especies en riesgo de la Norma Oficial Mexicana NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010: 101 pp. – https://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5578808&fecha=14/11/2019#gsc.tab=0 [accessed: 4 May 2023]