Centrostigma clavatum Summerh., Kew Bull. 11: 221 (1956).
Description:
Stern 50-60 cm tall, erect, robust, glabrous. Leaves 6-7, up to 14 cm long and 2 cm wide, the largest in the middle, semi-erect, lanceolate, acute, ribbed. Inflorescence 5-32 cm long, loosely 4-18-flowered. Flowers white, greenish-cream or greenish-yellow. Floral bracts up to 95 mm long. Pedicel and ovary up to 60 mm long. Dorsal sepal 16.5-20 mm long, 11-13 mm wide, ovate-lanceolate, acute, concave, puberulous at the apex. Petals 17-20 mm long, 5-6 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, acute, falcate, ciliolate in upper half. Lateral sepals 20-22.5 mm long, 5-6.5 mm wide, obliquely lanceolate, spreading, acute, apical parts puberulous. Lip 3-lobed, claw 4-4.5 mm long, attached to the base of gynostemium and lateral sepals; the middle lobe 20-30 mm long, 1.5-3 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, acute, deflexed; lateral lobes 25-35 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, ligulate, swept forwards, with pectinations ca. 5 mm long in apical half. Spur 55-75 mm long, cylindrical, swollen at the apex, usually tucked into the bract.
Habitat:
In dambo, swampy grasslands. December-January.
Cultivation:
Not in cultivation, warm to cool growing terrestrial.
Distribution:
The Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. Alt. 1200-1680 m.
References:
Orchidaceae of West-central Africa, vol. 1, Gdansk University Press Gdansk 2010; Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977, Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 2 Pope 1998
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