Angraecum podochiloides Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 38: 162 (1906).
Homotypic Synonyms:
Dolabrifolia podochiloides (Schltr.) Szlach. & Romowicz, Richardiana 7: 54 (2007).
Heterotypic Synonyms:
Monixus aporum Finet, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 54(9): 19 (1907).
Description:
Plant usually forming a tuft of pendent, flattened stems to 30 cm long, 5 mm in diameter, with numerous very fine roots up to 0.5 mm in diameter arising between the leaves from the lower parts. Leaves in two rows, glossy dark green, deciduous, narrowly lanceolate, bilaterally compressed, acute in side view, 6.9–19.3 × 2.3–3 mm. Inflorescences borne opposite the leaves, appearing axillary, 1-flowered; bracts elliptic, acute, 3.5–6 × 2–3.2 mm; pedicel and ovary 8.5– 11.5 mm long. Flowers white with yellow or orange sepal and petal tips, fleshy, 11.8–16.5 mm long. Dorsal sepal 2.6–4.5 × 0.9–1.1 mm, ovate or elliptic, 3-veined, adaxially concave, margins recurved in the distal half. Lateral sepals 3.5–5.2 × 0.8–1.1 mm, ovate, elliptic, or obovate, 2- or 3-veined, adaxially concave, margins recurved in the distal half. Petals 2.5–4 × 0.4–1 mm, ovate, elliptic or obovate, 1- to 3-veined, adaxially concave, margins recurved in the distal half. Lip 3.5–5 × 3–4 mm, slightly 3-lobed, concave, apex apiculate, lateral lobes rounded, upright on either side of the column, median lobe longer, triangular, apex acute; spur 5.3–7 × 0.4 mm, straight, abruptly narrowed, apex acute. Column short, 1–1.7 × 1.2 mm. Pollinia 2, pyriform.
Habitat:
This species is found in dense lowland or low montane forests, and has also been recorded in periodically flooded marshes.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus.
Phenology:
Flowering throughout the year, mostly from June to August and from November to April.
Distribution:
Angraecum podochiloides is known to occur in Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon and Democratic Republic of the Congo, and has been newly recorded in Equatorial Guinea. It is therefore endemic to the Guineo-Congolian Region.
References:
A taxonomic revision of Angraecum section Dolabrifolia (Orchidaceae, Angraecinae), with the description of a new species from Gabon, Phytotaxa October 2016; WCSP (2017). 'World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. 28.01-2017; http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
Images:
Click on each image to see a larger version.
| In culture | In culture | In culture |
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| Photograph Gilles Grunenwald. Image used with kind permission. | Photograph ©Leo Klemm. Image used with kind permission. | Photograph ©Leo Klemm. Image used with kind permission. |
