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Ancistrorhynchus tenuicaulis Summerh., Kew Bull. 8: 590 (1953 publ. 1954).
Description:
Plants with erect or curved stems, 2–16 cm high, 2 mm in diameter, with few narrow roots, 1–2 mm in diameter. Leaves linear, clustered near apex of stem, unequally bilobed at the apex, each lobe subacute or obscurely 2-toothed, articulated to rugulose leaf bases, 2–7.2 cm long, 4–5 mm wide. Inflorescences capitate, dense, 4–5 mm long, many-flowered; bracts elliptic, obtuse, 2–3 mm long; pedicel with ovary 3 mm long. Flowers white; dorsal sepal oblong-elliptic, rounded, 1.5–3.5 mm long, 0.9–1.3 mm wide; lateral sepals obliquely elliptic-oblong, obtuse, 2–3.5 mm long, 1–1.2 mm wide; petals elliptic, rounded, 1.7–3 mm long, 0.7–1.4 mm wide; lip concave, ovate, obtuse, 1.4–2.5 mm long, 1.4–2.4 mm wide; spur globose or club-shaped, 1–2 mm long.
Habitat:
Epiphyte in lowland and submontane primary forest. In Rio Muni, specimens were also collected in the forest fringe of an inselberg. Altitudinal range from 400 to 1200 m.
Phenology:
Flowering peaks between May and July.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus, warm to cool growing epiphyte.
Notes:
This is one of the small-flowered species, somewhat similar to Ancistrorhynchus parviflorus in Tanzania and to Ancistrorhynchus schumannii and Ancistrorhynchus straussii from west and central.
Distribution:
Gabon to Uganda and Malawi
References:
Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Cribb 1989; Angraecoid Orchids Stewart, Hermans and Campbell 2006; WCSP (2017). 'World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. 10.03-2017; http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
Images:
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Habitat/In situ	Habitat/In situ	Habitat/In situ
Photograph© João Farminhão/ Missouri Botanical Garden. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© João Farminhão/ Missouri Botanical Garden. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© João Farminhão/ Missouri Botanical Garden. Image used with kind permission.