Villadia

THIEDEI   Pino & Cieza, 2009

Distribution : Peru (Dept. Cajamarca), 2900 m.

Description :

A succulent glabrous herb, 14 - 35 cm tall when flowering.

Roots 3 - 7 cm long, greyish.

Stem erect, branching every 5 - 8 cm.

Branches 1 - 5, erect, vegetative shoots 7 - 13 cm long, flowering shoots up to 20 cm long.

Leaves succulent, sessile, spirally arranged, crowded near the base and in young plants attached at an acute angle, straigt to slightly upcurved, narrowly ovate to narrowly deltoid, (6-) 9 - 13 x 2 - 3 mm, up to 3 mm thick, obtuse-subacute, upper side flat to slightly concave, lower side convex, light green-glaucous, reddish in very exposed plants, margins entire.

Inflorescence a terminal single spike 3 - 9 (-13) cm long, rarely with 3 - 5 basal branches, bracteoles 3 per flower, the largest opposite the stem and the other two laterally placed at 90°, 3.5 - 5.5 x 1.2 - 1.7 mm, narrowly ovate-deltoid, obtuse to acute, upper side flat to concave, lower side convex, slightly upcurved, with a hyaline spur at base.

Flowers 13 - 30, sessile, rarely geminate along the lower third, sepals narrowly ovate to deltoid, 3.2 - 3.5 x 1.4 - 1.6 mm, light green-glaucous, petals oblong, apex obtuse to acute-deltoid, united along the proximal three fourths, incurved along the distal fourth, 3.3 - 3.7 x 1.4 - 1.6 mm, outside greenish pale yellow with a reddish flush near distal keel, inside yellow, margins entire, anthers yellow.

Flowering time : December to February.

Link to photos in Haseltonia 15, 2009 

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