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Schizochilus lilacinus Schelpe ex H.P.Linder, J. S. African Bot. 46: 426 (1980).
Description:
Plants 200-350 mm tall; leaves 3-4, the lower 2-3 near the base of the stem, semi-erect, narrowly elliptic, acute, 40-100 mm long; the upper leaves lanceolate. Inflorescences semi-dense, to 100 mm long and 3-25-flowered; bracts somewhat longer than the 7 mm long ovaries. Flowers 10 mm in diameter, white or white with pink veins. Sepals subequal, lanceolate, acute; median 8-14 x 2-3.5 mm; laterals suboblique, 9-14 x 2-3 mm. Petals subobliquely ovate, subacute, c. 3 mm long. Lip 6-8 x 2.5-3.5 mm, obscurely 3-lobed, disc with a small tuft of crests; midlobe 2.5-3.5 mm long, subacute; side lobes 0.2 mm long, porrect; spur deeply bifid, straight, 1.5-3 mm long.
Habitat:
Schizochilus lilacinus is known only from the escarpment between Lydenburg and Graskop (Mpumalanga), and flowers from October to December.
Note:
The plant is similar to Schizochilus crenulatus, differing mainly in leaf shape, habitat and the orientation of the inflorescence.
Distribution:
Mpumalanga
References:
Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999; Field Guide to the Orchids of Northern South Africa and Swaziland McMurty, Grobler, Grobler & Burns 2008
Images:
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Habitat/In situ	Habitat/In situ	Habitat/In situ	Habitat/In situ	Habitat/In situ
Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.	Photograph© Lourens Grobler. Image used with kind permission.