Epipactis leptochila (godfery) godfery subsp. Umbrae (fam. Orchidaceae) nuovo taxon della Puglia

During a botanical excursion in the Foresta Umbra (Gargano), which took place in the second half of July 2013, some Epipactis sp. not yet flowered have been observed. For their morphology these plants did not appear to correspond to any of the species previously described for the Gargano (Aa.Vv. 2009). Therefore, in the following days, we made periodic exscursions in order to observe the plants during their anthesis. Their flowering season started on 26th July and ended on 20th August 2013. Field research were carried out in the neighboring areas during the successive days in order to find other similar specimens; unfortunately these researches gave negative results. The Epipactis sp. were found in a clearing of a beech forest along the trail named Casa Cantoniera-Paglizzi-Falascone, about 700 m above the sea level. The clearing was characterized by an average brightness and a limestone substrate. In addition to some trees of Fagus sylvatica were also present shrubs of Daphne laureola, Ilex aquifolium and Ruscus aculeatus. The orchids on the site were only represented by the Epipactis sp. previously mentioned, while in sites within a distance of 1 Km were observed others Epipactis sp. such as: Epipactis purpurata Sm. (= E. viridiflora Hoffm. ex Krock), recently reported for the Gargano (ROSSINI et al., 2002) and locally abundant, Epipactis helleborine (L.) Crantz, Epipactis meridionalis H. Baumann and R. Lorenz and Epipactis leptochila subsp. neglecta Kümpel. Morphological analyses has allowed us to determine the Epipactis sp. previously mentioned as E. leptochila, but which it differs substantially both from E. leptochila subsp. leptochila Godfery (it has been reported for some regions of central and southern Italy according to Aa. Vv.2009, but not for the Gargano) and from E. leptochila subsp. neglecta; it shows strong similarities, but also significant differences, that led us to describe it as a new subspecies characterized by a late flowering season. Indeed, E. leptochila subsp. umbrae starts its flowering season in late July when E. leptochila subsp. neglecta has completed its flowering season that ends during the first ten days of July and that, according to Delfor ge (2005) it starts one or two weeks before E. leptochila subsp. leptochila.