Lepismium warmingianum ( K Schumann) Barthlott in Bradleya 5
 (1987)
  (synonym R. linearis)

Left to right: 2nd and 3rd from left) R. gonocarpa  R. warmingiana from Britton & Rose; (photo far right) R. linearis taken at Huntington Botanical Garden, 9/99 KAF

Desc from B&R 1923

Plant- at first erect, then spreading or hanging; branches elongated, jointed, 10 mm. wide or less, either flat or sharply 3 or 4-angled, more or less blotched or colored throughout with purple or red; 
Flowers
-  one at an areole, 20 mm. long, white, directed forward, 
Perianth segments
-  spreading, acute;
Stamens
-  25 to 30, white; 
Ovary
-  strongly angled;
Fruit
-  globose, 5 to 6 mm. in diameter, dark purple to nearly black, capped by the withered  flower. 

Type locality: Near Lagoa Santa, Minas Geraes; two localities were cited when first  described, this being the first..

The plant has long been in cultivation, where it does well and blooms freely. Dr. Rose brought back a fresh supply from Brazil in 1915. According to Robert Lamb, the flowers have a perfume resembling that of a hyacinth.

DISTRIBUTION. Brazil (Minas Gerais, Espirito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Parana, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul), eastern Paraguay, Argentina (Misiones): epiphyte in seasonal forest, to 1100 m altitude. 

Note from Bradleya 13

The lectotype is an unusually broad-stemmed form of the species and without knowledge of its provenance could easily be confused with the sister species, L. lorentzianum.

The supposedly white-fruited Rhipsalis linearis K. Schumann (l.c., Balansa 2500, K!, )  is treated as a synonym, since material so-named exhibits no obvious and reliable vegetative or floral differences. White fruits have not otherwise been seen in this species and raise suspicions that they were described in error or represented some sort of rare mutation.

Desc from Hunt 2006.
Body epiphytic, pendent, elongate, up to 3-4m; branch segments 3-4 angled or flat up to 30 x 1cm, ,argins crenate; areoles hairless; flowers lateral, solitary, campanulate, up to 2.7 x 2.3cm, white; pericarp angled; fruit globose, 5-6mm diam, dark purple or nearly black

Rhipsalis warmingiana K. Sch.
Descr from Backeberg 1977

  • Body. shrubby, freely branching, erect, then hanging ;
  • Shoots broadly linear or narrowly lanceolate, to 30 cm long., 2 cm broad, notched, tapering towards the base or 2-angled or terete and stem-like, sometimes acutely 3-4-angled and then with a robust middle.-vein, often suffused reddish;
  • Areoles. somewhat felty, without bristles. ;
  • Flowers. lateral, rotate, c. 2 cm diam, green outside, white inside; Said to be hyacinth-scented.
  • Ovary. 5-6-angled;
  • Fruit. blackish-violet ;
  • Seeds. glossy, reddish-brown
Habitat Brazil (Minas Geraes ; Sao Paulo).


O GENERO RHIPSALIS por Albert Lofgren, Dos Archivos do Jardim Botanico, 1915. 


 

 

 

 

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