Gingersrus Database Taxon ID 2445Monocostus uniflorusOLD NAME: Monocostus uniflorus NEW NAME: Monocostus uniflorus NAME CHANGE NOTES: FULL SCIENTIFIC NAME: Monocostus uniflorus (Poepp. ex Petersen) Maas STATUS : accepted CONTINENT: Neotropical FIELD OBSERVATIONS:(If field observations are available, you can click on the link to open in a new window.) PHOTOS:(If photos are available, you can click on the link to open in a new window.) GOOGLE PHOTO ALBUM SYNONYMS: - Monocostus ulei K.Schum. in Engler (1904) BOTANICAL NOTES: Monocostus uniforus is an accepted species, and is the only species in the genus Monocostus. It is described as a low plant, 20-60 cm tall, with very short ligules and petioles and small leaves. The flowers are produced at the leaf axils, a single flower per axil. The calyx is green and relatively long at 20-30 mm, bracteole is bicarinate, wrapping around the calyx, corolla yellow, labellum yellow, large and spreading. This genus and species is endemic to the area around Tarapoto in San Martin, Peru. The type species was from Yurimaguas but was destroyed in vienna, so the neotype is from Rio Huallaga southeast of Tarapoto. I went there looking for it in 2008 but did not find it. Some years earlier Chelsea Specht found it there. As I understand it, this species grows in fairly dry areas, well drained rocky slopes and has a very narrow range of habitat. An herbarium specimen from the Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro had the notation "Habitat: bosque seco, terreno muy seco". Much of the surrounding area of the type location has been deforested and habitat destroyed, so it is not known whether the species still exists in the wild but it is at the very least critically endangered, I would think. Monocostus uniforus was included in the molecular phylogeny using a sample of my cultivated plant (R2848). In the phylogeny tree it showed up as the earliest species in the Monocostus/Dimerocostus clade, which has separate origins in the new world from Costus and Chamaecostus.
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