Restrepia species

I work with students (University of St. Thomas, Houston) on DNA sequencing of orchids and our new project is to get as many species of Restrepia as possible. We are looking for divisions that have a clear provenence: where it comes from: country, province, elevation, if possible. I know a lot of people have some good collections. Please help! We can pay something (certainly the postage and handling), but we have a limited budget. Our goal is to provide genetic trees and perhaps help to untangle the taxonomy of this delightful genus.

 

3rd year pre-med means a hefty schedule. All my best wishes. R. xanthophthalma, which has a barbaric name, is a synonym for R. muscifera and resembles it in all the details: small flower, behind the leaf. I think it needs the same general care (and low temperatures at night, difficult for us in the South). Thanks for the reply.

 

Kelly! yes, we would love some samples from you (and of course you would get credit in the paper). I don't know how many response I'll get, but I'm working on a protocol for collecting samples and how to post them to me. I'll let everyone know at once the best way to do it.
As for the labelllng problems and provenence, we can only get so far into "wild-collected" species; we have to depend on the breeders to send us "mostly" correct labels with plants. Yes, many are given the wrong names, like R. xanthophthalma, but that, at least, is a synonym and we can deal with it.
What I fear is that I'll get a sample of a rare or new species and it will be, not mislabeled, but a hoax. For the moment we are not there. If I can get four samples for each of the 61 possible species, (miracles happen!), the statistics will help us weed the impostors out, I'm hoping.
Can you tell me which species you have? My e-mail is [email protected], if you want to carry on this conversation outside the forum.
Ted
P.S. I'm waiting for further word from Brooklyn Botanical Gardens who have expressed interest and can do vouchers, whcih would be a great help.
T

 

Here are the species we do not have. I'm thinking they are very rare or even found only once. Does anyone know anything about these?
R. aberrans Luer 1966
R. archilae Chiron & Szlach. 2013
R. acpasicensis Rchb.f. 1885
R. chrysoglossa Garay 1973
R. cloesii Luer 1996
R. cobanensis Archila, Chiron & Szlach. 2913
R. condorensis Luer & R. Escobar 1996
R. driessenii Luer & Sijm. 2009
R. echo Luer & Escobar 1996
R. fritillina Luer & V.N.M. Rao 2007
R. mayana Archila, Chiron & Szlach. 2013
R. metae Luer 1996
R. nicolasii Archila, Szlach. & Chiron 2017
R. peetersii Luer & Sijm. 2011
R. piperitosa Luer & Hirts. 2006
R. portillae Luer 2002
R. renzii Luer 1996
R. seketii Luer & Escobar 1996
R. valverdei Archila, Jimenez Rodr. & Veliz 2015
R. wageneri Richb.f. 1854

 

Great news. You are an advanced searcher and that is clear. At my age, the glasses just don't cut it any more for lips (what a strange thing to say!). My students take pictures through the microscope with their phones. Not only am I Mr. Magoo, but antedeluvian, an ancestor of technology.

 

Oh my! I came back from the Brooklyn Botanical gardens with treasures beyond belief. I do have a request to anyone who can help. It seems Restrepia echo is rather common, but I need a sample or two of it to include in the testing of DNA, and I cannot find it anywhere. Please help! We start extractions January 21.

These are the species we are still missing, but I really don't expect to get them. Still, 42 of the 60 species is a very good sampling of the genus. Once again, my e-mail is [email protected].
And many thanks to all who have helped so far!

R. aberrans Luer 1966
R. archilae Chiron & Szlach. 2013
R. acpasicensis Rchb.f. 1885
R. chrysoglossa Garay 1973
R. cobanensis Archila, Chiron & Szlach. 2913
R. condorensis Luer & R. Escobar 1996
R. driessenii Luer & Sijm. 2009
R. echo Luer & Escobar 1996
R. fritillina Luer & V.N.M. Rao 2007
R. mayana Archila, Chiron & Szlach. 2013
R. metae Luer 1996
R. nicolasii Archila, Szlach. & Chiron 2017
R. peetersii Luer & Sijm. 2011
R. piperitosa Luer & Hirts. 2006
R. portillae Luer 2002
R. renzii Luer 1996
R. valverdei Archila, Jimenez Rodr. & Veliz 2015
R. wageneri Richb.f. 1854

 

Restrepia antennifera 'Frisco' from BBG.
A progress report. Thanks to many people, we are now in contact with Lankester Gardens in Costa Rica, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens in New York, Mark Whitten in Florida, Andrea Niessan in Cali, Colombia as well as members of the Orchids Forum. Our team has started doing the DNA extraction of 175 samples and we await others. This phase will last at least a month, but we have lots of enthusiasm, and we are grateful for all the help we have received. The project is scheduled to be finished by September 2019.

 

We are now up to 220 samples from 10 different sources and we plan on sending the DNA from three different sites (one chloroplast and two nuclear) for sequencing on July 1. This is the expensive part, because we have to pay for forward and reverse reading for 660 samples @ $3-5 a pop. Yipes.