67. CALYPSO BULBOSA var. OCCIDENTALIS and var. SPECIOSA

0 rch idaceae

Jeffrey Wood

The genus Calypso takes its name from the Greek ‘Kalypso’, the sea nymph of Homer’s Odyssey, referring to her mystical beauty and clandestine haunts. C. bulbosa (L.) Oakes is certainly an enchanting orchid and is found in often inaccessible or secluded areas. It is a monotypic circumboreal genus having been assigned its own tribe, the Calypsoeae, by Dressler (1979). This it shares with Yoania, a small genus of quite different looking leafless saprophytes native to India and Japan. Dressler believes that the Calypsoeae are probably related to the Arethuseae, a tribe confined to North America which happens to contain only one monotypic genus, viz. Arethusa (A. bulbosa L.), named after a Greek wood nymph!

Calypso produces a small bulb-like corm variable in shape and often coralloid. A solitary leaf arises from this in late summer or early autumn withering shortly after flowering in the spring or early summer. The pouch-like lip has a distinct bicornute spur, which can vary in length according to variety. The curious pink column is very broad and petaloid. There are tufts of hairs on the lip that are sometimes coloured golden-yellow which simulate pollen-bearing anthers, thereby attracting bees.

Calypso bulbosa, sometimes known as ‘Fairy Slipper’, is repre- sented throughout its range by four varieties, viz. the typical var. bulbosa from northern Eurasia (Scandinavia east via Siberia to Korea and Japan, south to Tibet), var. americana (R.Br.) Luer from North America, and the two figured here, viz. var. occidentalis (Holzinger) Calder & Roy L. Taylor from western North America and var. speciosa (Schltr.) J J Wood from Japan.

The more widespread New World plant was considered by Robert Brown (1813) to be distinct (C. americana R.Br.) on account of the lip having a longer spur and a more deeply cleft lamina. Both these characters are variable and the one distinguishing feature is the prominent tuft of bright yellow hairs on the front of the lip. It is debatable whether the New and Old World plants are that different from one another. Such differences that do exist, often more useful to the nurseryman, can be conveniently treated at varietal rank.

Calypso was first imported and introduced into cultivation in

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England from Canada in 1805 by R A Salisbury. Today it is seldom grown, possibly because of its short life span, and is mostly found in specialist collections. The plant of C. bulbosa var. occidentalis figured here was kindly donated by Mr G Mundey of Redlynch, Wiltshire. I t is a native of the Pacific Northwest from California to British Columbia, although it was first described from the Craig Moun- tains in Idaho, the easternmost limit of its range. I t appears similar to the Eurasian var. bulbosa, having green leaves and the lip lamina mottled or irregularly blotched lavender-pink with only a few whitish hairs. The more widespread var. americana is distinguished from var. occidentalis by its white lip lamina marked with only a few deep purple flecks and adorned by golden tufted hairs. C. bulbosa var. occidentalis would appear to rely upon a different pollinator since it lacks these conspicuous golden hairs which attract bees to var. americana. The flowers of Calypso contain no nectar and mimic other common nectariferous flowers in order to trick an insect to visit.

All varieties of C. bulbosa inhabit shady coniferous and mixed woodland or marshes, often in mountainous districts, and are at home in the great boreal forests of Canada, the northern United States and northern Eurasia. Colonies are usually found growing in damp mossy places or beside rotting tree stumps. Cribb (pers. com.) has seen var. americana growing on mossy hummocks and at the base of trees in Tamarack swamp in Vermont.

As a postscript, it is interesting to note that rumours have for some time circulated of the occurence of var. bulbosa in Scotland, although all searches to find a colony have so far been to no avail. I t is possible, but unlikely, that a colony has elluded detection and is flourishing in a remote Scottish glen. It would certainly make a fine addition to the British flora.

CULTIVATION. Calypso bulbosa succeeds in a cool greenhouse with a minimum night and day temperature of 5°C and 10°C respec- tively in the winter and 12°C and 20-25°C in the summer. Fifty percent shading is provided from April until September. Humidity is maintained at 75-80% during the night and 40% during the day, with fans providing good air circulation. Plants are grown in a compost medium consisting of fine pine bark, acid grit, loam and leaf mould with a top dressing of sphagnum moss. A weak foliar feed is provided once every two weeks.

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Plate 67

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis (top) C.6. var. speciosa (bottom) CHRISTABEL KING

DESCRIPTION (of var. occidentalis). A terrestrial herb arising from a bulb-like corm. Corm 1-2 cm long 0.8-1.5 cm wide, ovoid, 1-leaved, with a few fleshy roots. Leaf 3-6 cm long, 2-5 cm wide, ovate to oblong-elliptic, obtuse and mucronate or acute, plicate, margin undulate, bluish-green; petiole 1-6 cm long, purplish. Stem (4-)lo-15 (-20) cm high, with 2 or 3 pale brown tubular sheaths below, naked above, purple, glaucous. Floral bracts 1-1.2 cm long, 0.2-0.3 cm wide, lanceolate, acuminate, convolute, pink. Flowers solitary, pendent from axil of floral bract. Pedicel with ovary 2 cm long, narrowly clavate, curved, purple or purple-green. Sepals and

K L

P

Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis. A, bract, X 3; B, lateral sepal, X 2; C, dorsal sepal, X 2; D, petal, X 2; E, lip, X 3; F, column and anther cap, X 3; G, anther cap, X 6; H, pollinia, X 8. Var. speciosa. I, bract, X 2; J, lateral sepal, X 2; K, dorsal sepal, X 2; L, petal, X 3; M, lip, X 3; N, column and anther cap, X 3; 0, anther cap, X 6; P, pollinia, X 8.

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petals similar, 1.5-2.2 cm long, 0.2-0.4 cm wide, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, undulate, laterals oblique, spreading to somewhat reflexed, rose-pink, rarely white. Lip 1.5-2.3 cm long, 0.7-1.3 cm wide, saccate, inflated and pouch-like, ovate, with 2 spurs each 2-3 mm long, margin of sac folded back and dilated into a lamina, the margin of which is inflexed, base of lamina with 3 lines of sparse whitish hairs, sac of lip whitish to pale pink, streaked and spotted purple, lamina white mottled or irregularly blotched purple or pink. Column 8-12 cm long, 6-10 mm wide, with very broad wings, ovate, petaloid, convex, pink. Anther concealed on under- surface of column; pollinia 4, in 2 pairs.

DISTRIBUTION. Western United States and Canada from California to British Columbia, coniferous and mixed woodland, marshes and damp mossy places; sea level - 2200 m altitude.

Calypso bulbosa (L.) Oakes var occidentalis (Holzinger) Calder & Roy L. Taylor in Can. Journ. Bot. 43: 1393 (1965); Luer, Native Orch. United States and Canada, 338 (1975). Type: United States, Idaho, Nez Perces County, Craig Mountains, Lake Waha, Sandberg et al. 21 1 (holotype US; isotype K). C. bulbosa (L.) Oakes forma occidentalis Holzinger in Contr. U.S. Nat.

C. occidentalis (Holzinger) A.A. Heller in Bull. Torrey Club 25: 193 (1898). Cytherea occidentalis (Holzinger) A.A. Heller in Muhlenbergia 1 : 132

C. bulbosa (L.) House var. occidentalis (Holzinger) Cockerel1 in Torreya 16:

Herb. 3: 251 (1895).

(1906).

185 (1916).

Calypso bulbosa var. speciosa is, perhaps, one of the most attractive varieties. The plant figured was illegally imported from Japan by a nurseryman and was consequently confiscated by H.M. Customs. It lacks exact provenance. The most notable feature are the leaves which can be either entirely purple or purple on the reverse and bluish-green above. The lip has long spurs which project well beyond the white or pale pink, normally unmarked, lamina. The tuft of hairs is white or pale yellow. Apart from the purple leaves, it resembles certain forms of var. americana. In Japan it is known as ‘Hotei-ran’ or Ventricous Orchid, referring to the inflated pouched lip.

Komarov (1901) validated the unpublished epithetjaponica first used by Maximowicz. Schlechter (1919) pointed out that, after studying the type and description of Calypso japonica Maxim. ex V. Komarov, it was in fact a related endemic Japanese orchid, Dactylostalix ringens Reichb.f., and not a Calypso at all. Schlechter therefore proposed C. speciosa as a new name for the Japanese plant. C. speciosa cannot be upheld at specific rank and I have made the necessary new combination at varietal levcl.

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DESCRIPTION (of var. spe&sa). Similar to var. occidmtalis, but differing by the following details. Lcafentirely purple, or purple on reverse only. Lip up to 3 cm long, lamina white or pale pink, unspotted or with only a few brown spots at the base, hair tuft usually yellow, sometimes white.

DISTRIBUTION. Japan, woodland and marshy places; altitude range unknown.

Calypso bulbosa (L.) Oakes var. speciosa (Schltr.) J.J. Wood comb. nov.; Maekawa, Wild Orchids ofJapan in Colour, 292, plate 109 (1971), nom. inval. (Art. 33.2). Type: Japan, Nippon (?B, holotype, destroyed). C. speciosu Schltr. in Fedde Rep., Beihefte 4: 228 (1919). [C. juponicu sensu Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. 19: 14 (1905) non Maxim.

[C. bulbosu (L.) Oakes var. japonicu sensu, Makino in Tokyo Bot. Mag. 19: ' ex V. Komarov \ 1301).]

14 (1905), non C. juponicu Maxim. ex V. Komarov (1901) .]

REFERENCES

Dressler, R.L. (1979). The subfamilies of the Orchidaceae in Selbyana 5: 204. - (1981) The Orchids - Natural History & Classification, 220-221 (Harvard University Press).

68. CUMINIA ERIANTHA Lab iatae

Raymond Harley

It is pleasant to suppose that Robinson Crusoe, alias Alexander Selkirk, for so long marooned in the Juan Fernandez Islands, must have had time to stop and admire a flowering bush of Curniniu eriantha, perhaps even with Man Friday at his side. The islands have now been officially renamed the Archipelago de Robinson Crusoe by the Chilean authorities, and lying about four hundred miles off the coast of Chile, are renowned for their lush vegetation and highly endemic flora. Together with Easter Island, they have been made the subject of a fine series of papers by the late Carl Skottsberg of Goteborg, Sweden, and his collaborators. 70% of the species of flowering plant are estimated to be unique to the islands, which can even boast an endemic family, the Lactoridaceae, as well as several endemic genera.

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