Oligophyton drummondii H.P.Linder & G.Will., Kew Bull. 41: 314 (1986).
Homotypic Synonyms:
Benthamia drummondii (H.P.Linder & G.Will.) Szlach. & Rutk., Acta Bot. Fenn. 169: 380 (2000).
Description:
Plants 10-25 cm tall. Basal leaves 2-6, narrowly elliptical to ovate, acute, 1-4-5 x 0-5-1-5 cm, narrowed at the base into a linear, pale, sheathing petiole, usually forming a rosette. Cauline leaves 3-5, lax, acute, loosely convoluted with the apices recurved, 0-5-2 cm long. Inflorescence a rather laxly 8-25 flowered, 2-11 cm long, erect, very slender spike; bracts I as long as the ovaries, green to somewhat chartaceous, acute. Ovary twisted, 3-7 mm long. Flowers yellow with green sepals, ± resupinate, 1-5-2 mm long, sepals and petals not spreading; dorsal sepal concave, cucullate at the apex, subacute, 1-nerved, covering the top of the flower, 1-5-2 x 1 mm; lateral sepals somewhat oblique, almost flat, subacute, 1-5-2 x 1 mm, 1-nerved; petals more or less enclosed in the sepals, rounded, 3-nerved, oblique, marginally shorter than and somewhat wider than the sepals; lip substantially shorter than the petals and sepals and obscured by them, 3-lobed and 3-nerved, the central lobe subacute, 0-5 mm long, the apex often curved upwards, the lateral lobes blunt, shorter than the central lobe and curved upwards around the column; spur straight or curved, 0.5-1.2 mm long, about 0.5 mm diam. at the entrance; rostellum 0.4 mm tall, square, the central lobe very small, viscidia separate and held in shallow notches in the lateral lobes, staminodes minute; anther about 0.5 mm long, erect; stigma with two sessile, slightly convex, diverging lobes
Habitat:
In the montane zone in sandy quartzitic soils.
Distribution:
E. Zimbabwe (Chimanimani Mts.)
