Aerangis brachycarpa (A.Rich.) Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afric. 5: 50 (1894).
Homotypic Synonyms:
Dendrobium brachycarpum A.Rich., Tent. Fl. Abyss. 2: 282 (1850).
Angraecum brachycarpum (A.Rich.) Rchb.f. in W.G.Walpers, Ann. Bot. Syst. 3: 573 (1852).
Heterotypic Synonyms:
Aerangis flabellifolia Rchb.f., Flora 48: 191 (1865).
Angraecum rohlfsianum Kraenzl., Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Ges. 1: 341 (1882).
Angorchis flabellifolia (Rchb.f.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 651 (1891).
Angraecum flabellifolium (Rchb.f.) Rolfe in D.Oliver & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 135 (1897).
Rhaphidorhynchus rohlfsianus (Kraenzl.) Finet, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 54(9): 38 (1907).
Angraecum carusianum Severino, Bull. Soc. Tosc. Ortic. 4(1): 56 (1916).
Aerangis rohlfsiana (Kraenzl.) Schltr., Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 36(2): 120 (1918).
Aerangis carusiana (Severino) Garay, Bot. Mus. Leafl. 23: 157 (1972).
Description:
Stem woody, upright or pendent, up to 20 cm long but usually much shorter, bearing greyish roots 5-6 mm diam. Leaves 4-12, alternate, usually distichous, 5-12 mm apart, obovate or spathulate with a sheathing base and unequally bilobed apex, the lobes rounded or acute, the longer up to 12 mm long, fleshy or leathery in texture, dark green and often black-dotted, margins entire or undulate (Angolan specimens only), up to 25 cm long, 2-6 cm wide near the apex. Inflorescences axillary racemes, arching or pendent, up to 40 cm long, bearing 2-12 flowers; peduncle terete up to 10 cm long, 3 mm diam., bearing 2-3 tight sheaths; rhachis slightly zigzag, gradually tapering, greyish green, black-dotted; bracts triangular, acute, up to 9 mm long, enclosing a small outgrowth of the rhachis 1-2 mm long. Flowers in 2 rows, 1-5-3-5 cm apart, pale green when first opening, becoming white, and often with a pink or brownish tinge in the petals and spur, tepals often with the margins recurved so that they appear very narrow; pedicel with ovary straight or arching, 3-5-7 cm long. Tepals all narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, 20-45 mm long, 4-8 mm wide near the base; dorsal sepal erect, lateral sepals and petals becoming sharply reflexed within a few days of the flowers opening. Lip deflexed, 20-45 mm long, 5-10 mm wide near the base, narrowing gradually or abruptly at a point about one third from the tip to a slender acumen; spur straight or slightly curved, pendulous, gradually tapering towards the tip which is sometimes minutely bifid, 12-20 cm long. Column slender, terete below, dilated above, 6-8 mm long; androclinium sloping; rostellum porrect; pollinia oboval-kidney shaped; viscidium heart- shaped. Fruit a slender capsule up to 20 cm long.
Habitat:
Plants grow in dense shade, usually as epiphytes rather low on tree trunks and branches, as well as in the forking bases of large shrubs in highland forests and forest remnants at 4700-7550 ft. (1430-2300 m). In Ethiopia, plants have been found along the Hoha River and in riverside forests at 4700-4900 ft. (1430-1500 m). Long blooming and frequent blooming orchid species.
Notes:
For a long time this species was known only in the vegetative and fruiting state, and the remains of the perianth attached to the capsules gave a misleading impression of the character of its flowers. Careful study of the Schimper specimen in the Paris herbarium, which bears a longer spur remnant than its duplicate at Kew, has revealed that all the remnants on the type specimens are broken and incomplete: the original flowers would have had much longer spurs. Many other specimens have been collected in Ethiopia, also in the vegetative or fruiting state, but several recent collections (Harrington, Mooney and Gilbert) have included flowering material. These flowers are indistinguishable from those of the type specimen of A.flabellifolia Reichb. f., (Welwitsch 657) which came from Angola. Reichenbach was apparently aware of the similarity of the leaves and capsules of these two, supposedly different species, when he established the genus in 1865.
Cultivation:
Read more of Cultivation of Aerangis brachycarpa (A.Rich.) Durand & Schinz
Distribution:
Eritrea to S. Trop. Africa
References:
Cribb, P., C. Herrmann, and D.Sebsee. 2002. New Records of Orchids from Ethiopia. Lindleyana 17(4): 178-188. Hamilton, R. 1988. When does it flower? 2nd ed. Robert M. Hamilton, 9211 Beckwith Road, Richmond, B. C., Canada V6X 1V7. Hillerman, F. and A. Holst. 1986. An introduction to the cultivated Angraecoid orchids of Madagascar. Timber Press, Portland, Ore. African orchids in the wild and in cultivation. Timber Press, Portland, OR. Stewart, J. and B. Campbell. 1996. Orchids of Kenya. Timber Press, Portland, OR. Yearron, S. H. Nov. 17, 1999; Stewart, J. (1979). A Revision of the African Species of Aerangis (Orchidaceae) Kew Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 2 (1979), pp. 239-319; WCSP (2017). 'World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. 18.01-2017; http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
Images:
Click on each image to see a larger version.
| In culture |
In culture |
In culture |
In culture | In culture | Botanical Drawing / Herbarium |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Photograph Gilles Grunenwald. Image used with kind permission. | Photograph Gilles Grunenwald. Image used with kind permission. | Photograph Gilles Grunenwald. Image used with kind permission. | Photograph Gilles Grunenwald. Image used with kind permission. | Photograph Gilles Grunenwald. Image used with kind permission. | Photograph copyright.Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz. Image used with kind permission. |
