Angraecum dendrobiopsis Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 33: 356 (1925).
Description:
Plants with pendent stems, 25-60 cm long, simple or branching, slightly sinuate, 3-5 mm in diameter and very leafy; foliar sheaths almost entirely uncovered, finely veined, often brilliant, 10-25 mm long, leaves distant, lanceolate-linear (5-12 cm x 5-8 mm medially or below), very attenuate toward both ends, unequally bilobed-acute apically. Inflorescences from in the sheaths, 4-12 cm long, sometimes single (towered, most often 2-4 flowered; peduncle 2-4 cm long, bearing 3 confluent basal sheaths and 1 other isolated toward the center, the last narrowly tubular, obtuse and with the dorsal veins very projecting; bracts obtuse-apiculate, equal to about a quarter the length of the pedicel; flowers white, very fleshy. very large (divisions 22-27 mm). Sepals lanceolate, widest (7 mm) in the basal third, subacuminate from the point of the subacute apex and with 7 distinct veins, the laterals longer (27 mm) than the median (23 mm), more acute and joined basally. Petals oval-subacuminate-acute (22 x 8 mm) 10 veined. Labellum rhomboid oval (18-20 x 8-13 mm near the base), very concave, obviously auriculate basally, attenuate from the base to the apical quarter, then abruptly contracted in a cylindrical point 5 mm long; with a single very thick median keel basally; 17-19 veined, veins visible; spur retrose, horizontal or ascending, oriface very wide (4 mm), slightly attenuate then subfiliform and 35 mm long. Column taller (5 mm) than wide; auricles large (2.5 x 2 mm), rounded behind, very obtuse apically; with a small tooth found in the notch of the rostellum in a small deltoid lamina. Anther depressed, excised in front; pollina yellow, globulous (1 mm in diameter) cauda retracted, inserted with a wide retinacle (not seen when live), with the median portion elliptical, opaque and bifid apically, flanked by 2 hyaline wings, semi-orbicular, 2 mm wide and tall. Pedicel 2-3 cm long. Capsule oblong (3 x 1 cm) with 6 very projecting angles, suturals thicker.
Habitat:
Angraecum dendrobiopsis grows epiphytically in moss forest at an altitude of around 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) in the Tsaratanana Massif in northern Madagascar, where it flowers in January. The high altitude at which it grows suggests very cool winter nights, with some early morning frosts.
Cultivation:
This species can grown in pots, seem best suited to medium light, and do moderately well under intermediate conditions. They do not bloom every year, and this may be due to lack of the chill period during winter that they experience in their natural habitat.
Distribution:
N. Madagascar
References:
Flora of Madagascar Perrier 1939/1981; Cultivated Angraecoid Orchids Of Madagascar Hillerman & Holst 1986; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; Angraecoid Orchids Stewart, Hermans, Campbell 2006; Orchids of Madagascar Hermans, Du Puy, Cribb & Bosser 2007; Orchids of Madagascar Hermans 2007; Field Guide to the Orchids of Madagascar Cribb & Herman 2009; WCSP (2017). 'World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. 12.01-2017; 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 |
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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. | Photograph Gilles Grunenwald. Image used with kind permission. |
