Angraecum claessensii De Wild., Bull. Jard. Bot. État Bruxelles 5: 184 (1916).
Description:
Plants small with an elongate stem bearing leaves and roots along its length; stems erect, somewhat compressed so that they appear flattened, 10-25 cm long. Leaves ligulate-lanceolate, falcate, unequally and obliquely bilobed at the apex,l obes rounded or acute, the smaller one sometimes absent, 6-7 cm long, 1-1.5 cm wide. Inflorescences axillary, erect, longer than the leaves, slender, 15- 17 cm long, 7- to 9-flowered; bracts small, ovate, apiculate; pedicellate ovary 10-12 mm long' Flowers pale green, whitish, yellowish, or orange, small; sepals lanceolate, acuminate, 7 -8 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide; petals reflexed in the apical half, shorter and narrower than the sepals, 6-8 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide; lip concave, 3-lobed, 6-7 mm long, 5-6 mm wide, with a narrow, longitudinal linear callus along the centre at the base, the side lobes rounded, erect on either side of the column, the mid-lobe recurved, linear acuminate; spur funnelshaped at first, then narrowing and thickened into an ellipsoid shape at the apex, ca. 5 mm long.
Habitat:
Epiphyte, pendent or scandent in humid forests but well-exposed to light; 600-800 m; flowering in May or June.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus, warm growing epiphyte.
Distribution:
W. & WC. Trop. Africa
References:
Angraecoid Orchids Stewart, Hermans and Campbell 2006; WCSP (2017). 'World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. 25.01-2017; http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
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