Disperis bathiei Bosser & la Croix, Adansonia, III, 24: 79 (2002).
Description:
Terrestrial herb c. 17 cm high. Leaves 3, in upper half of stem, alternate, up to 3.3 × 1.8 cm, ovate, the lowest petiolate, the upper two sessile; petiole 2 mm long with a basal sheath 8 mm long. Inflorescence 5-flowered; bracts leafy, ovate to lanceolate, acute, up to 1.5 cm long. Flower colour not known; pedicel and ovary 12 mm long. Dorsal sepal 10 × 1 mm, linear; lateral sepals free to the base, 13-14 × 4.5-5.6 mm, obliquely elliptic, subacute, with a small spur in the basal half. Petals 10 × 2.5 mm, oblong, subfalcate, adnate to the dorsal sepal to form an elliptic, concave hood, rounded at the summit, 9.5-10 mm high, 6 mm wide. Lip with a linear claw, slightly reflexed at about 3.5 mm from the base and enlarged just below the bend, extending above the bend for 3.5 mm but divided at about halfway along into 2 branches, then sharply bent down to the front and bearing an obtuse, glabrous, linguiform, convex appendage 5.5 mm long.
Habitat:
In the understorey of humid forest at intermediate elevation.
Notes:
This species has only been collected once. It resembles Disperis lanceana in the shape of the flowersand the morphology of the lip, but the appendage is completely glabrous and is borne on a glabrous stalk. The lateral sepals appear to be free almost to the base. But this character needs to be confirmed. On the label on the type specimen, Perrier De La Bâthie commented that it approaches Disperis comorensis (=Disperis humblotii), but in that species the terminal appendage of the lip is considerably smaller and bears a short, dense indumentum except on the basal extremity.
Distribution:
Madagascar; endemic.
