Platycoryne paludosa (Lindl.) Rolfe in D.Oliver & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 256 (1898).
Homotypic Synonyms:
Habenaria paludosa Lindl., J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 6: 139 (1862).
Heterotypic Synonyms:
Habenaria wilfordii Ridl., J. Bot. 24: 295 (1886).
Habenaria aurea Kraenzl., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 16: 209 (1893).
Platycoryne aurea (Kraenzl.) Rolfe in D.Oliver & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 256 (1898).
Platycoryne wilfordii (Ridl.) Rolfe in D.Oliver & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Trop. Afr. 7: 256 (1898).
Description:
Tubers 1 or 2, 1-2 cm long, 0.4-0.6 cm in diameter, narrowly ellipsoid. Stem 20-31 cm tall, erect, delicate, glabrous. Leaves 5-7, scattered along stem, 3-4 cm long, up to 0.8 cm wide, narrowly lanceolate, acute, erect to suberect, decreasing in size up the stem, the upper 1-2 bract-like, ca. 2 cm long, the lower 1-2 sheath-like. Inflorescence 1-3.5 cm long, 1-6-flowered, lax. Flowers small, resupinate, yellow to oranges. Floral bracts 10 mm long, broadly ovate to semi-orbicular, apiculate, glabrous. Pedicel and ovary up to 20 mm long, erect, glabrous, ovary cylindrical. Dorsal sepal 5-9 mm long, up to 7 mm wide, semi-orbicular, subobtuse, cochleate, glabrous, nerves unbranched. Petals up to 9 mm long, 2 mm wide, linear-lanceolate to oblong, falcate, acute or subacute, glabrous, nerves sparsely branched. Lateral sepals up to 10 mm long and 2.5 mm wide, obliquely oblong-lanceolate, obtuse with thick apiculus, glabrous, nerves sparsely branched. Lip up to 8 mm long and 1.5 mm wide, ligulate, obtuse, rather fleshy with revolute margins, glabrous, pendent. Spur 9-10 mm long, 1 mm in diameter, narrowly cylindrical, blunt. Anther up to 2.5 mm tall, connective apiculate, rostellum middle lobe much shorter than connective, rostellophores much longer than the middle lobe, antherophores erect, ca. 4 mm long, stigmaphores distinctly shorter than antherophores, auricle prominent.
Habitat:
Terrestrial in marshes or damp grassy places, in shallow loamy sand in meadows. May-December.
Cultivation:
Not in cultivation.
Distribution:
Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin (Dahomey), Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, the Republic of Congo. Alt. 80-1600 m.
References:
Orchidaceae of West-central Africa, vol. 1, Gdansk University Press Gdansk 2010
Images:
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Habitat/In situ |
Photograph ©Leo Klemm. Image used with kind permission. |