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Corycium alticola Parkman & Schelpe, Contr. Bolus Herb. 10: 157 (1982).
Description:
Plants robust, to c. 400 mm tall, black when dried; leaves suberect, spreading, lanceolate, acuminate, 55-200 x 28 mm. Inflorescences dense, numerous-flowered; bracts overtopping flowers, lanceolate, acuminate, to c. 28 x 10 mm. Flowers c. 20 x 7-10 mm, sepals white turning black, petals pale green, lip pale maroon. Median sepal broadly ovate, subacute to obtuse, 8 x 4-6 mm; lateral sepals deflexed, concave, suborbicular, connate to half their length, 6-8 x 4-5 mm. Petals broadly lanceolate, falcate, as long as the median sepal. Lip rotund-oblong, emarginate, 5-6 x 4-5 mm; appendage shield-like, c. 5 mm tall, with 2 deltate, divaricate, acute apical lobes 8 mm long.
Habitat:
Very local in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Lesotho, known from only a few localities; in damp grassland from 1950 to 2400 m.
Phenology:
Flowering in February.
Distribution:
S. Africa
References:
Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982
Images:
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Habitat/ In Situ	Habitat/ In Situ	Habitat/ In Situ	Habitat/ In Situ
Photograph© Cameron McMaster. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Cameron McMaster. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Cameron McMaster. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Cameron McMaster. Image used with kind permission.