TAXONOMIC REVISION OF THE GENUS LIPARIS RICH. (ORCHIDACEAE) IN NEPAL

Abstract

The genus Liparis Rich. (tribe Malaxideae) comprises over 400 terrestrial and epiphytic species with small pseudobulbs and thin coriaceous leaf mostly arising from the apex of pseudobulb. The members of Liparis are distributed widely in tropical, subtropical and temperate areas of the world. In Nepal, the genus is distributed throughout Western, Central and Eastern region of the country with altitudinal ranging from 400 to 3900m. The genus Liparis was kept close to other genera i.e. Malaxis and Oberonia by most of the taxonomists, the characters similar in between them were presence of basal leaves, leaves arising from the apex of the pseudobulb, plants without long stem, and presence of four pollinia in their column. This revisionary work is mainly based on examination of herbarium specimens from National and International Herbaria and is also supported by observations of plants in nature during field visit. The characters studied are habit and habitat, shape and size of pseudobulb, phyllotaxy, leaves, inflorescence, bracts, flowers, sepals, petals, lip, column and capsules. Apart from morphology, cladistic and phenological study was also done. Additionally identification key, description, illustration and distribution map of each species are provided. This study confirms the presence of 20 species Liparis i.e. L. bootanensis, L. caespitosa, L. cathcartii, L. cordifolia, L. deflexa, L. elliptica, L. glossula, L. langtangensis, L. nervosa, L. odorata, L. olivaceae, L. perpusilla, L. petiolata, L. plantaginea, L. platyrachis, L. pygmaea, L. resupinata, L. rostrata, L. stricklandiana, L. viridiflora and one variety of the genus L. nervosa var. khasiana. These species are divided in 2 sections i.e. Mollifolliae and Corrifoliae. The cladistic analysis provides the inter-relationship between the species reported from Nepal and divided them into clades and subclades. Length of column, resupination of flowers and habitat are the diagnostic characters of Liparis which separate it from Malaxis and Oberonia. As this study will help to update the checklist and play a significant role in preparation of Flora of Nepal.