Angraecum palmicola Bosser, Adansonia, n.s., 11: 376 (1989 publ. 1990).
Description:
Plants very small, stems not more than 4 cm high, with smooth roots from the base and a fan of leaves near the top. Leaves 3-6, erect, linear-cylindric, glaucous green and very narrow, pointed at the apex, with a narrow furrow along the upper surface, 3-4.5 cm long, 1 mm in diameter. Inflorescence arising below the leaves, single-flowered; peduncle 1-2 mm long, covered entirely by 2 or 3 obtuse sheaths; bract similar to these sheaths, 4-5 mm long; pedicel and ovary 1.8-2.5 cm long. Flowers with pale yellow-orange tepals, lip and spur white; dorsal sepal small, lanceolate, tapering from the base to the tip, obtuse or subacute, 12-15 mm long, 3-4 mm wide; lateral sepals spreading, asymmetric at the base, 12-18 mm long, 3.5-4.5 mm wide; petals narrowly lanceolate, acute, 11-14 mm long, 2.5-3 mm wide; lip concave, oval to suborbicular, without a callus on the surface, acute or apiculate at the apex, 11-16 mm long, 8-10 mm wide; spur slender, 10-11 cm long.
Habitat:
Epiphyte amongst lichens on the smooth trunks of the palm, Chrysalidocarpus decipiens; known from one collection, near a stream; 1300-1400 m; flowering in September.
Note:
This species is rather similar to Angraecum letouzeyi but the glaucous foliage and smooth roots are quite different. The flower has a differently shaped lip with much longer spur.
Distribution:
C. Madagascar
