Monograph of the Genus Teagueia Luer (Orchidaceae)

 

What this book is about....

( Table of Contents follows below.)

       The genus Teagueia was established by Dr Carl Luer in 1991 to hold six unusual orchid species. All six are rare plants with very limited distributions; three species are from Colombia and three species are from Ecuador. These six species are treated in Dr Luer's monographs, Icones Pleurothallidinarum VII and VIII.

      In the last three years my students (especially Andy Shephard) and I have discovered about 28 new species of Teagueia in the mountains around my home in Baños, Ecuador, more than quadrupling the size of the genus and making a new monograph necessary. An online monograph seems more appropriate than a printed one at the moment, since the number of new species is still increasing rapidly as I visit new mountains. This online monograph will eventually treat the new species in detail, and for completeness briefly treats the six original Teagueia species as well. For the moment, I give only photos of the new species, but in a few months I hope to have time to make careful botanical illustrations and detailed accounts of each one.

To view a chapter, click on the Contents item below. It will be some time before I get all this on line, however.

 

 

     Table of Contents

Note: The Chapters are still under construction and only a few are on line.

 

1. Overview of the genus

      This chapter gives background information about the history of the genus, and the characteristics that set it apart from other pleurothallid orchid genera.

 

2. The six original Teagueia species

    The following species are briefly discussed: T. lehmannii, T. phasmida, T. rex, T. teaguei, T. tentaculata, and T. zeus. All these have been treated in Dr Luer's monographs.

 

3. Teagueia alyssana Luer and Jost

    Cerro Mayordomo hosts seven recently discovered species of Teagueia, including four species that have been formally published (T. alyssana, T. cymbisepala, T. jostii, and T. sancheziae). Teagueia alyssana is one of the most elegant of the new Teagueia species.

 

4. Teagueia "cherisei"

    Cerro Añangu hosts many recently discovered species of Teagueia. This species is one of the largest.

 

5. Teagueia "aliana"

    Cerro Negro hosts about nine recently discovered species of Teagueia, all awaiting formal description. This is a tiny one with beautiful flowers. It also grows on Cerro Candelaria.

 

6. Teagueia  #1

    This species from Cerro Añangu and Cerro Mayordomo is like several other dark flat ones but has a unique large callus on the lip, and the lip is reflexed just below this callus. The lip and petal edges are ciliate.

 

7. Teagueia #2

    This species from Cerro Añangu is easily identified by the recurved flower parts. A form with virtually identical flowers but very different leaves on Cerro Negro and Cerro Candelaria may or may not belong to this species.

 

8. Teagueia #3

   This species from the highest parts of Cerro Mayordomo has distinctive purple-veined leaves with pustules on their surfaces.

 

9. Teagueia cymbisepala Luer and Jost

   This species from Cerro Mayordomo is only known from a single plant, and there are no photos of it. It is a large species colored orange.

 

10. Teagueia jostii Luer

   This is one of the first species I discovered on Cerro Mayordomo. A similar form occurs on Cerro Añangu, though there are differences. For the moment I lump the Añangu form with the Mayordomo form.

 

11. Teagueia sancheziae Luer and Jost

    This species occurs on Cerro Mayordomo and Cerro Añangu. On both mountains this species is polymorphic, with a yellow and a red form growing intermixed.

 

12. Teagueia "shepardii"

   This extraordinary large species with a broad, open lip occurs on Cerro Añangu and Cerro Mayordomo.

 

13. Teagueia #4

    This tiny species with narrow pointed petals comes from Cerro Negro and Cerro Candelaria.

 

14. Teagueia #5

   This is another of the new Teagueia species of Cerro Negro and Cerro Candelaria. It has a sharply recurved lip that forms a huge collar around the column.

 

15. Teagueia "pailinii"

    This vigorous species grows on Cerro Negro and Cerro Candelaria. The tailed petals and sepals and large size immediately distinguish it.

 

16. Teagueia #6

    Another of the Cerro Negro/Cerro Candelaria species, it appears to hybridize with T. #9.

 

17. Teagueia #7

   This very small species from Cerro Negro and Cerro Candelaria has a distinctive protuberant column.

 

18. Teagueia #8

    This form from Cerro Negro and Cerro Candelaria resembles the next form but has long narrow petals and narrower lip. It also has smooth leaves different than the rough, pustulate leaves of the other species.

 

19. Teagueia #9

    See discussion under the previous species. It sometimes hybridizes with T. #6.

 

20. Teagueia #10

    This is the most common species of Teagueia on Cerro Añangu.

 

21. Teagueia puroana

    On my January 2003 expedition to the top of the unexplored mountain Cerro Candelaria, south of the Rio Pastaza, I found this dramatic new species on isolated dwarf trees in paramo (the alpine grasslands of the Andes) at an altitude of 3700m. I had no idea that Teagueia species could grow at such high elevations. This species has been named after Puro Coffee, which sponsored the purchase of a reserve to protect this and other endemic plants.

 

22. Teagueia barbeliana

    Perhaps this is the most beautiful of the new Teagueia species. It is another of the very high elevation species on Cerro Candelaria, like T. puroana, growing up to about 3800 m.

 

23. Teagueia #11

    This species was very common in a wide range of elevations on Cerro Candelaria. The lip has a narrow tip that points forward.

 

24. Teagueia "pseudoaliana"

    This species is very similar to T. "aliana", which grows with it on Cerro Candelaria. In the field I thought it was just a dark form of that species, but on closer examination I found consistent differences in the lip collar and in the column structure. The leaves and sheaths are also quite different from those of T. "aliana".

 

25. Teagueia #12

    This species from Cerro Candelaria is much like sympatric Teagueia #4, but is larger and has a differently shaped column. Its leaves are smaller and narrower than those of Teagueia #4.

 

26. Teagueia "micrantha"

    This is the smallest of the Teagueia species so far discovered. I found it on Cerro Mayordomo.

 

27. Teagueia #13

    This species from Cerro Candelaria is quite similar to T. #9, but all flower parts are broader, the lip is differently shaped, and the leaves are smooth and erect rather than rough and horizontal.

 

28. Teagueia #14

    This species from Cerro Candelaria resembles T. #4 but has bumpy leaves and a very unusual lip collar which loosely wraps around the column.

 

29. Teagueia #15

    This intensely colored species from Cerro Candelaria resembles T. sancheziae.

 

30. Teagueia "grossmanii"

    One of the most distinctive species, this was found only once, by Scot Grossman and Andy Shepard.

 

31. Teagueia #16

    This is a large ungainly species with a long lip. It is known from only one site.

 

32. Teagueia "no name yet"

    This huge species with virtually no collar lives high on Mayordomo. It bears strong resemblance to the drawing of T. cymbisepala. I am not sure if this is the real T cymbisepala or not, since my T. cymbisepala specimen is in the US.

 

 

33.Taxonomic issues

   Some of the above species are very distinct from each other, but a few are confusing. I here present my reasons for treating them as good species, and discuss some taxonomic problems that I cannot yet resolve.

 

 

Monograph of the Genus Teagueia Luer (Orchidaceae)