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Disperis dicerochila Summerh., Hooker's Icon. Pl. 33: t. 3272 (1935).
Description:
Tubers 1-3 cm long, 0.6-1.2 cm in diameter, ovoid to globose. Stem 6-26 cm tall, delicate, erect. Leaves 2, 1.5-5 cm long, 1-3.5 cm wide, opposite, above the middle of the stem, ovate, acute or shortly acuminate. Inflorescence 1-3-flowered, subumbellate. Flowers white, tinged rose, purple or entirely magenta. Floral bracts 7-26 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, acute. 7-11 mm long, 2 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, acute. Petals 7-10 mm long, 4-7.5 mm wide, B-shaped or elliptic, obtuse at the apex. Lateral sepals 7-10 mm long, 4—7.5 mm wide, rhomboid-ovate, acute at the apex, spur near the base, conical-falcate, 1.5-2 mm long. Lip set on a linear claw 7-9 mm long, limb 2 mm long, ligulate, obtuse, reflexed; appendages 2, each ca. 2-3 mm long, bilobulate, upper lobule elongate, narrowed towards the papillate apex, lower lobule shorter recurved and auriculated.
Habitat:
On leaf-litter, mossy branches, rocks, in upland rain-forests, sometimes persisting in Cupressus spp. plantation.
Phenology:
Flowering from December to October.
Notes:
Somewhat similar to D. reichenbachiana Welw. ex Rchb.f., differs from it by the lip structure; in D. dicerochila lip appendage is 4-lobed and glabrous, in D. reichenbachiana lip appendage is bi-lobed and glandular on apical margins.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus, cool to cold growing terrestrial, epiphyte or lithophyte.
Distribution:
The Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe. Alt. 1650-2600 m.
References:
Orchidaceae of West-central Africa, vol. 1, Gdansk University Press Gdansk 2010; Flora of Tropical East Africa Summerhayes 1968; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977; Flora Zambesiaca Vol. 11 Part 1 Pope 1995; Orchids of Kenya Stewart & Campbell 1996; Field Guide to the Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004; A molecular phylogeny for the large African orchid genus Disa Bytebier 2006 ; Terrestrial African Orchids, A select Review John S. Ball 2009; A synopsis of the genus Disperis Sw. (Orchidaceae), ADANSONIA, sér. 3 - 2005 - 27 (2) : 155-207
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Photograph© Margaret Westrop. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Margaret Westrop. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© João Farminhão/ Missouri Botanical Garden. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© João Farminhão/ Missouri Botanical Garden. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© João Farminhão/ Missouri Botanical Garden. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© João Farminhão/ Missouri Botanical Garden. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© João Farminhão/ Missouri Botanical Garden. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© João Farminhão/ Missouri Botanical Garden. Image used with kind permission.