Cynorkis × mirabile Hermans & P.J.Cribb, Orchid Rev. 115: 252 (2007).
Description
Terrestrial herb 16cm tall. Tuber at the stem base, 5cm long, 1cm in diameter. Roots, 0.1-0.2cm in diameter. Leaf solitary at the stem base elongate-elliptic, 15 x 3.5cm, subtended bv a funnel-shaped sheath. Sheath and leaf deep green densely spotted and blotched with dark maroon. Inflorescence up to 15cm long, produced from within the new developing shoot, 3 to 4-flowered. Peduncle 13cm long, c. 4mm in diameter, green suffused with brown-red carrying hairs over most of its length but increasing towards the tip, one sheath towards the base, 25mm long. Floral bracts 11 x 4mm, green with a darker margin, hairy on the exterior. Ovary pedicellate, 30 x 2.8mm, green densely covered with glandular hairs except at the base. Flowers faintly scented, overall lilac in colour with some greenish-white underneath the segments, darker purple on the back of the dorsal sepal and the margins of the petals, a dark purple spot in the throat and on the disc, the spur is green spotted with brown. Dorsal sepal 10.5 x 4mm, deeply concave and, together with the petals, forming a tight hood over the column, carrying several long glandular hairs on the exterior especially around the base. Lateral sepals folded outwards, concave, oblong to sickle-shaped, 15mm x 8mm, a few glandular hairs at the base. Petals narrowly oblong-obovate, curved apically, 10 x 3.1mm. Lip 19.2 x 10.5mm, three-lobed, lateral lobes 8 x 3mm. Mid lobe 7.2 x 6.3mm, with a raised ridge-like thickening from the disk to the base of the mid-lobe. Spur at first somewhat parallel with the ovary then slightly curved to hook shaped at the tip, almost indistinguishably thickened at the top, 25mm long, 1.2mm in diameter. Column 10mm deep, 4.5mm wide, 4mm high; anther 2 x 1.2 mm, two chambered with a nose-shaped protrusion 5 x 2mm. Rostellum arms 5mm long slightly diverging, with side lobes 1.3mm long. Pollinia 10mm long, thread-like.
Habitat:
Distribution:
Madagascar
