Cynorkis stenoglossa Kraenzl., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 17: 63 (1893).
Homotypic Synonyms:
Imerinorchis stenoglossa (Kraenzl.) Szlach., Orchidee (Hamburg) 56: 69 (2005).
Description:
Stocky herbs, 13-25 cm tall; tubers 3.4, elongated; leaves 1-2 developed, ordinarily large (2-5 cm wide), to or slightly more than half the length of the inflorescence. Scape 6-12 cm long, bristly-glandular above, with 2-3 caulinar sheaths with a short limbus and acute; inflorescence dense or sub dense, generally more than 10 flowered, petals and labellum violet or violaceous, the rest brown; bracts lanceolate-linear, generally equaling a quarter or a third the length of the pedicel and bearing some pedicellate glands. Median sepal widely oval-obtuse (4.5-5 x 3.2-3.4 mm), 3 veined; laterals semi-orbicular (9 x 5 mm), 6 veined, curved. Petals (5.5 x 2.8 mm) obtuse, adnate, basally to the labellum, semi-oblong and 2 veined. Labellum in 5 narrow lamina (5-8 x 2.5-2.8 mm) provided on each edge with a narrow, acute tooth basally, 3 veined; spar 10-14 mm long, equal to the pedicel, cylindrical and slightly attenuate toward the apex. Anther (l mm) obtuse: pollina black; cauda l mm long; viscidiums long (0.7 mm), fusiform and brownish; staminodes spatulate and straight. Arms of the rostellum thick, 1 mm long, curved recurved and with the median lobe reduced in a small lamina, attached behind the connective appendage of the anther, not more than a third the length of the anther. Stigmas in 2 wide, spatulate laminas, joined in the young flower, then free and thicker with age. Pedicel bristly-glandular, 10-14 mm long.
Habitat:
In humid forests, from 700-1500 m alt.; flowering in September-December.
Distribution:
Madagascar
