Aerangis spiculata (Finet) Senghas, Orchidee (Hamburg) 23: 226 (1972).
Synonyms:
Rhaphidorhynchus spiculatus Finet, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 54(9): 40 (1907).
Leptocentrum spiculatum (Finet) Schltr., Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 33(2): 624 (1915).
Plectrelminthus spiculatus (Finet) Summerh., Kew Bull. 4: 442 (1949).
Description:
Stems short, thin, with 4-7 oblong-cuneiform leaves (10-17 x 1.5-3 cm), attenuate (or often) unequally bilobed apically and narrowly contracted basally. Inflorescence 32-60 cm long; peduncle short (2- 6 cm.), bearing a few short basal sheaths; rachis very long (30-50 cm) with the internodes of a uniform length (2-3 cm) and 5-20 flowered; bracts scarious, brown, triangular-acute (8 x 6 mm), thin and slightly carinate dorsally; pedicel articulate basally, articulation obscured by the bracts. Median sepal lanceolate-acute (27 x 6 mm basally), 7 veined; lateral sepals almost similar, slightly narrower basally. Petals ob1anceolata-cuminate, much wider (7 mm) in the apical third and 5 veined. Labellum (19 x 6 mm), 3- lobed apically, 9 veined much wider in the apical Third and attenuate basally; lateral lobes rounded, median much longer, triangular-cuspidate provided basally with 2 small comma shaped calluses whose tails converge in the center of the labellum, but du not join with each other; spur 12-16 cm long, cylindrical or slightly attenuate, provided with numerous small pellucid oblique teeth in the back. Column elongated, attenuate basally; the back margins of the clinandrium deeply bilobed; auricles absent; rostellum loriform, long, enlarged-elliptical apically. Anther brown apically, provided behind with a small apicule and in front with a tridenticulate lip; pollina sessile, elliptical; cauda narrowly linear, enlarged at the pollina, viscidium elliptical. Pedicel 3.7 cm long.
Habitat:
The type specimen was found on Grand Comore Island, but no other details were reported, and no recent collections have been made on the island. Plants have been found at the northern end of Madagascar, however, and are reported to grow in humid, low-elevation forests.
Cultivation:
Read more of cultivation of Aerangis spiculata (Finet) Senghas,
Distribution:
Comoros, Madagascar
References:
Du Puy, D., P. Cribb, J. Bosser, J. & C. Hermans. 1999. The Orchids of Madagascar. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB, England. Stewart, J. 1986. Stars of the islands—A new look at the genus Aerangis in Madagascar and the Comoro Islands—3. American Orchid Society Bulletin 55(10): 1008-1015; WCSP (2017). 'World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. 20.01-2017; http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
Images:
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| In culture | In culture | In culture | In culture |
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| 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. |
| Habitat/In situ | Habitat/In situ | Habitat/In situ |
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| Photograph© Olaf Pronk. Image used with kind permission. | Photograph© Olaf Pronk. Image used with kind permission. | Photograph© Olaf Pronk. Image used with kind permission. |
