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Satyrium trinerve Lindl., Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 344 (1838).
Heterotypic Synonyms:
Satyrium leucocomos Rchb.f., Flora 48: 182 (1865).
Satyrium atherstonei Rchb.f., Flora 64: 328 (1881).
Satyrium longibracteatum Rolfe, Bol. Soc. Brot. 7: 238 (1889).
Satyrium mechowianum Kraenzl., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 17: 65 (1893).
Satyrium monopetalum Kraenzl., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 24: 504 (1898).
Satyrium nuttii Rolfe in D.Oliver & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 273 (1898).
Satyrium occultum Rolfe in D.Oliver & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 273 (1898).
Satyrium triphyllum Kraenzl., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 24: 504 (1898).
Satyrium zombense Rolfe in D.Oliver & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 273 (1898).
Satyrium schinzii T.Durand & Kraenzl. in F.W.L.Kraenzlin, Orchid. Gen. Sp. 1: 696 (1899).
Satyrium proschii Briq., Annuaire Conserv. Jard. Bot. Genève 6: 2 (1903).
Description:
A terrestrial herb 2-9 dm. high; tubers globose to almost fusiform, sometimes on long stalks, 1-4.5 cm. long, 7-26 mm. in diameter, ± tomentose; roots slender, flexuous, pubescent. Sterile stem up to 7 cm. long, 4-leaved; 2 lower leaves sheath-like, short, obtuse, the upper leaves ± spreading, lanceolate or elliptical-lanceolate, acute, up to 17-25 cm. long and 4-7.5 cm. broad. Flowering stem erect, slender to stout, with numerous leaves along its length; leaves altogether 5-10, the 2-3 lowest short, sheath-like, the intermediate ones suberect, lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, acute, up to 9-24 cm. long and 1-4.5 cm. broad, the upper ones similar but smaller. Inflorescence cylindrical, 3-27 cm. long, 2.5-7 cm. in diameter including the long spreading bracts, densely many-flowered; rhachis often shortly but stiffly hairy; bracts usually spreading, lanceolate, acute, green or white or parti-coloured, 1-5 cm. long, often ciliolate and papillose. Flowers halfspreading, sessile, white or yellowish; ovary 5-7 mm. long, usually densely covered with short stiff hairs. Sepals and petals ± deflexed, united with one another in their basal half and with the lip for 1-1.5 mm. at their base; intermediate sepal oblanceolate or oblong-oblanceolate, obtuse, 5-8 mm. long, 1-1.5 mm. broad; laterals obliquely oblong-elliptical, obtuse, a little longer than the intermediate, ± 2 mm. broad. Petals linear-oblanceolate, equalling the intermediate sepal but half as broad. Lip erect, very convex, ovate, with a very broad mouth, the apex narrowed, 5.5-8 mm. long; spurs short and thick, adpressed to the ovary, 2-6.5 mm. long, ± 1.5 mm. in diameter. Column erect, 3.5-5 mm. high, the slender stalk longer than the fertile part; stigma erect, ± concave, nearly orbicular, 1-2 mm. in diameter, rostellum porrect, scarcely 1 mm. long, truncate and equally but shortly 3-lobed, the middle lobe bifid.
Habitat:
Grasslands, usually moist localities, dambos, Brachystegia woodlands. Alt. 550-2500 m.
Phenology:
Flowering in June-February.
Notes:
This is another species closely related to S. paludosum, but it has generally smaller flowers. Spurs of S. trinerve are only 2-6 mm long, lip 5.5-8 mm long, and its apex is broadly triangular, subacute, erect.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus.
Distribution:
Guinea, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Republic of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Madagascar.
References:
Orchidaceae of West-central Africa, vol. 1, Gdansk University Press Gdansk 2010; Flora of Tropical East Africa Summerhayes Orchidaceae Part 1 1968; Flora Capensis, Vol 5, Part 3, page 3, (1913) Author: (By R. A. ROLFE.)
Images:
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Habitat/In situ	Habitat/In situ
Photograph© Warren McCleland. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Warren McCleland. Image used with kind permission.