Hetaeria mannii (Rchb.f.) Benth. ex Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afric. 5: 57 (1894).
Homotypic Synonyms:
Rhamphidia mannii Rchb.f., Otia Bot. Hamburg.: 109 (1881).
Zeuxine mannii (Rchb.f.) Geerinck, Bull. Jard. Bot. Natl. Belg. 50: 122 (1980).
Description:
Rhizome horizontal in the lower part, creeping in the upper. Stem 28-40 cm tall, erect, glabrous, glandular along the inflorescence axis. Leaves 5-6, gathered in the lower part of the stem, petiolate; petiole and sheath 1.2-3.5 cm long; blade 9-14 cm long, 2-5 cm wide, obliquely lanceolate, ovate to elliptic, acuminate, spirally arranged; 3-4 cauline bracts above the leaves, up to 1.5 cm long, ovate-lanceolate, acute, delicate, glabrous, shorter than internodes. Inflorescence up to 14 cm long, up to 30-flowered, dense. Flowers small, nonresupinate, dirty or brownish-white. Floral bract 8-9 mm long, oblong-lanceolate, acute, glandular outside at the base, delicate. Pedicel I mm long, glabrous. Ovary 8 mm long, narrowly cylindric, densely glandular. Sepals sparsely glandular outside at the base. Dorsal sepal 3-4 mm long, 1.3 mm wide, oblong-ovate, subobtuse. Petals 3-4 mm long, 0.6 mm wide, linear-oblanceolate, acute. Lateral sepals 4-5 mm long, 1.8-2.2 mm wide, obliquely ovate, subacute. Lip constricted near the apex, sessile, basal part 3-4 mm long, 2-2.3 mm wide, saccate with few fingerlike, fleshy projections inside, apical margins involute; epichile bi-lobed, lobes 2-2.3 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, reflexed, oblong to oblong-ovate, rounded at the apex.
Habitat:
Humid forests. January, May-July, November.
Notes:
Hetaeria mannii differs from other species of the genus by its lip form. Basal part of the lip of Hetaeria mannii is 3-4 mm long, the apical lobes are 2-2.3 mm long and 0.8-1 mm wide, oblong. In two other species of the genus with non-resupinate flowers, Hetaeria tetraptera (Rchb.f.) Summerh. and Hetaeria occidentalis Summerh. basal part of the lip is longer reaching (4)5-6.5 mm long, and the apical lobes are larger -(2.5)3-7.5 mm long, 2-3.5 mm wide.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus.
Distribution:
Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea?, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire). Alt. up to 100 m.
References:
Orchidaceae of West-central Africa, vol. 1, Gdansk University Press Gdansk 2010
