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Brachycorythis ovata subsp. welwitschii (Rchb.f.) Summerh., Kew Bull. 10: 257 (1955).
Homotypic Synonyms:
Brachycorythis welwitschii Rchb.f., Flora 50: 99 (1867).
Brachycorythis ovata var. welwitschii (Rchb.f.) Szlach. & Olszewski, in Fl. Cameroun 34: 73 (1998).
Heterotypic Synonyms:
Brachycorythis acutiloba Rendle, J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 40: 208 (1911).
Description:
Roots thick, fleshy, cylindrical, woolly. Stem 20-60 cm tall, erect, rather stout, glabrous in the lower part, minutely glandular below and along inflorescence axis. Leaves numerous, up to 15, up to 5.5 cm long and 2 cm wide, narrowly to braodly lanceolate or oblong-ovate, acute, glabrous, erect, decreasing in size up the stem. Inflorescence up to 17 cm long, rather dense, up to 25-flowered. Floral bracts up to 35 mm long, glabrous, the lower ones longer than the flowers. Pedicel and ovary 10-12 mm long, sparsely pubescent. Dorsal sepal 6.5 mm long, 4 mm wide, elliptic-ovate, cochleate, subobtuse, sparsely pubescent outside. Petals 7.5 mm long, 3 mm wide, obliquely oblong-lanceolate, acute. Lateral sepals 10.5 mm long, 5 mm wide, obliquely ovate, concave, shortly apiculate, sparsely pubescent outside. Lip hypochile 5 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, slightly concave; epichile 10 mm long, 9 mm wide, elliptic in general outline, three lobed in the apical part, with a keel running along the mid-vein, into the ligulate, slightly upcurved mid-lobe, side lobes oblong-elliptic, rounded, shorter than the middle lobe, glabrous, irregularly dentate on margins. Gynostemium 3 mm long.
Habitat:
Montane grassland and dry dambo 1650–2200 m. November-December.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus.
Distribution:
The Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire)?, Burundi, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe
References:
Orchidaceae of West-central Africa, vol. 1, Gdansk University Press Gdansk 2010
Images:
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Habitat/In situ	Habitat/In situ	Habitat/In situ	Habitat/In situ
Photograph© Nicholas Case Wightman Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Nicholas Case Wightman Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Nicholas Case Wightman Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Nicholas Case Wightman Image used with kind permission.