Cynorkis sororia Schltr., Ann. Inst. Bot.-Géol. Colon. Marseille, III, 1: 154 (1913).
Homotypic Synonyms:
Bicornella sororia (Schltr.) Szlach. & Kras, Richardiana 6: 142 (2006).
Description:
Plants 12-30 cm tall, tubers 2, oblong; leaf single, radical, elliptical-acute (4.5-8 x 1.3-2.2 cm), attenuate-compressed basally. Scape glabrous, bearing several sheaths, distant. Inflorescence oblong, dense, 4-20 flowered; bracts oval-acuminate a third to a fifth the length of the pedicel: flowers rose, very large (2- 2.4 cm including the ovary), pedicel and sepals more or less hispid-glandular. Sepals widely oval, the median very obtuse and 4-8 mm long, the laterals longer (5-10 mm). Petals slightly sickle shaped, obtuse as long as the lateral sepals. Labellum compressed basally, deeply trilobed, 9-15 mm long; lateral lobes small, triangular and obtuse; median very large, suborbicular (7 mm or more in diameter), nearly crenulate marginally; spur cylindrical. but with its apex distinctly swollen, 7-8 mm long. Anther l mm tall, cauda thicker than the pollina, 1 mm long, viscidiums very narrow and 0.7 mm long; staminodes upright, spatulate and not more than a third the length of the anther. Rostellum (with the clinandrium) 1 mm long, with 3 teeth of equal length, but of very different form, the 2 laterals flat and very obtuse, the median pleated, semi-cylindrical, obliquely truncate and incurved-gutter shaped. Stigmas free apically, not more than half the length of the rostellum. Pedicel bristly-glandular, 10-15 mm long.
Notes:
This species is very much like C. ridleyi, being distinguished by the shape of the pollinarium and the rostellum.
Habitat:
Distribution:
N. & NE. Madagascar
