Disperis lanceolata Bosser & la Croix, Adansonia, III, 24: 81 (2002).
Description:
Stem slender violet. Leaves 2-3, alternate, sessile or rarely with a very short, 1 mm long petiole, the lowest leaf in the lower half of the stem, 1.8-3.6 × 0.7-1.5 cm, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, acute. Inflorescence 2-5-flowered; bracts lanceolate, acute, 4-6 mm long, leaf-like. Flowers rose pink, the petals striped with violet; pedicel and ovary 10-13 mm long. Dorsal sepal 7.5 × 1 mm, linear; lateral sepals 6-9 mm long, free more or less to the base, obliquely oblanceolate, with a distinct spur at about the middle. Petals 7.5 × 2 mm, obliquely oblong, subacute, the free margins undulate, adnate to the dorsal sepal and forming an oblong, concave hood 5.5-7.5 mm high, 2.5- 3 mm wide. Lip claw joined to the column at the base, the free part gradually enlarged to 2 papillose lobes, then with a narrow stipe 2 mm long ending in a suborbicular or elliptic appendage, 1.5-2 mm in diameter, papillose in the centre, with a protuberance where the blade joins the stipe. Rostellum with short arms.
Notes:
This species recalls Disperis humblotii and Disperis saxicola in its habit. It is distinguished by its much smaller and narrower, sessile leaves and by the terminal appendage of its lip in the form of a flat elliptic or suborbicular plate having at it base a rounded protuberance. The lip appendage bears some resemblance to that of the African species Disperis togoensis, but the latter is a more slender plant with larger flowers and leaves, and with the lateral sepals joined at the base for a quarter to half of their length. It also resembles Disperis katangensis but that, too, has the lateral sepals partly joined.
Habitat:
In humus in shade in moist forest, edge of forest in shade of small trees in deep leaf litter; 1200-2000 m.
Distribution:
N. & NC. Madagascar
