Karomia tettensis - or K. speciosa, or are they the same?

Discussion in 'Plants: Identification' started by wcutler, Dec 2, 2015.

  1. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I was so impressed with myself that I recognized this as a purple version of Holmskioldia, not even knowing if there was such a thing, but then it turns out this used to be called something like Holmskioldia tettensis, but now it has been renamed Karomia tettensis. Or else it's Karomia speciosa. Or are they synonyms? I've seen pages with both species (tettensis and speciosa) listed, and I've seen pages that say they're the same. I'd love to know which to call this.
    Karomia-tettensis_NearKCC_Cutler_20151128_090825.jpg Karomia-tettensis_NearKCC_Cutler_20151128_090834.jpg Karomia-tettensis_NearKCC_Cutler_20151128_090914.jpg
     
  2. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    I see that no-one replied to this. There are several plantings of these in this neighbourhood in Honolulu, and I've been calling them K. speciosa. I looked at my photos on flickr, and see that I made that decision based on the description of K. tattensis at Flora of Zimbabwe: Species information: Karomia tettensis. With the lower lip labellum not being laciniate and the seeming absence of spines, I decided to rule out that species. On the other hand, this Karomia speciosa | Plantz Africa photo of K speciosa does not look so much like the flowers in my photos.

    I'd like to believe the sites that say those two names are synonyms. Well, the flower photo of K. tattensis on the Flora of Zimbabwe page, with the laciniate lower lip labellum is pretty convincingly different from these flowers. On the other hand, two people whose id's I trust have identified flowers that look like my Honolulu ones as K. tattensis.

    Here are some photos from another location in the same neighbourhood.
    Karomia-speciosa_3348Francis-Honolulu_Cutler_20171125_102554.jpg Karomia-speciosa_3348Francis-Honolulu_Cutler_20171125_102558.jpg Karomia-speciosa_3348Francis-Honolulu_Cutler_20171125_102602.jpg Karomia-speciosa_3348Francis-Honolulu_Cutler_20171125_102618.jpg
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2017

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