Neobolusia ciliata Summerh., Kew Bull. 11: 217 (1956).
Description:
Terrestrial herb, glabrous except for lip and petal margins and the tuber; tuber c. 20 × 3 mm, fusiform, villose. Leaves usually 3, largest near the stem base, 4.2–6.5 × 1–1.2 cm, lanceolate, apiculate. Inflorescence laxly 3–10-flowered, flowers suberect; ovary 5–7 mm long; bracts 10–12 × 5 mm. Sepals greenish to straw-coloured, purple-veined; petals pale green and rimmed with pale purple, pellucid-punctate; lip deep glossy-purple, pale or greenish at tip. Dorsal sepal erect, 9.2–9.6 × 3–4 mm, lanceolate, acute; lateral sepals spreading, 9.7–10.5 × 3–3.7 mm, obliquely lanceolate, acute. Petals 5.9–8.2 × 2.7–3.7 mm, lanceolate, slightly ciliolate on margin. Lip 11–13.5 × 9–10.5 mm, broadly rhomboid-hastate, 3-lobed in the basal half, ciliate on the margin; mid-lobe 6.2–7.5 × 5.3–7 mm; lateral lobes 1–2.5 mm long along the front margin. Column 4.3–5 mm high.
Habitat:
High, grassy plateau and montane grassland 1540–2000 m.
Distribution:
E. Zimbabwe to W. Mozambique
Images:
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| Botanical Drawing / Herbarium |
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| Photograph copyright Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz Image used with kind permission. |
