Francisco Morales of Costa Rica has been doing some research (Sept 1999) into this species - Refer INBio Web site. He refers to Smith’s original description but does not point out the differences that he must have found and should have commented on. He has not responded to my queries! These are:-
Smith Morales
Scape Very short 5.5 to 10cm long
Floral bracts exceed sepals shorter or equalling
carinate not carinate
lepidote glabrous
Sepals free not noted
If we follow this new information the matter becomes even more complex when we only rely on whether the bracts or sepals have trichomes. To my mind T. abdita differs from T. brachycaulos by having a pronounced scape and T. abdita differs from T. capitata by the purplish leaves (but then T. capitata can have these too!) In all it is very puzzling that a very variable T. capitata is accepted as, too, is a narrowly defined T. abdita (but proved variable - see above) both in description and geographical distribution. (Morales)
Francisco Morales of Costa Rica has been doing some research (Sept 1999) into this species - Refer INBio Web site. He refers to Smith's original description but does not point out the differences that he must have found and should have commented on. He has not responded to my queries! These are:-
Smith Morales
Scape Very short 5.5 to 10cm long
Floral bracts exceed sepals shorter or equalling
carinate not carinate
lepidote glabrous
Sepals free not noted
If we follow this new information the matter becomes even more complex when we only rely on whether the bracts or sepals have trichomes. To my mind T. abdita differs from T. brachycaulos by having a pronounced scape and T. abdita differs from T. capitata by the purplish leaves (but then T. capitata can have these too!) In all it is very puzzling that a very variable T. capitata is accepted as, too, is a narrowly defined T. abdita (but proved variable - see above) both in description and geographical distribution.
Endemic (personal communication with Derek Butcher.)
