Brownleea graminicola McMurtry, Field Guide Orchids N. S. Afr. Swaziland: 464 (2008).
Description:
Is a terrestrial orchid, a perennial herb growing annually from its tuberous roots. The few leaves sheath the stems and spiral up it in a well-spaced sequence. The leaves are large, lance-shaped and tapering to pointed tips. Leaf colour is bright to pale green, some longitudinal channelling visible along the surface. The small green bracts subtending the flowers of the spike above are similarly shaped to the leaves, but much smaller.
Habitat:
The plants grow in forest margins, among shrubs in moist conditions as well as in grass among.
Distribution:
Mpumalanga
References:
WCSP (2020). 'World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. 02.04-2020; http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/ Field Guide Orchids N. S. Afr. Swaziland 2008
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Genus Brownleea
A key to the subspecies of Brownleea galpinii
1a | Lateral sepals 6-7 mm long; median sepal 5-8 mm long; petals with upper margin not or only slightly crenulate; lip erect, 0.8-1.3 mm long, not reaching to the top of the stigma | subsp. galpinii |
1b | Lateral sepals (6.5-) 8-10 mm long; median sepal 7.5-9 mm long; petals with the apical lobe crenulate and fan-like; lip 2-2.6 mm long, reaching over the stigma to between the rostellum lobes | subsp. major |
World Checklist of Monocotyledons. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.kew.org/wcsp/monocots/ accessed 01/01/2015
Brownleea macroceras Sond., Linnaea 19: 106 (1846).
Heterotypic Synonyms:
Brownleea monophylla Schltr., Beibl. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 50: 18 (1895).
Description:
Plants (50-) 100-300 (-500) mm tall; basal sheath obtuse and apiculate, ribbed and with dark brown muricate patches, (20-) 40-80 mm long; leaves 1 (-3), blade usually narrowly lanceolate, acute, spreading, shallowly conduplicate, 60-80 (-120) x 4-10 (-30) mm. Inflorescences 1 (-6) -flowered. Flowers facing out horizontally, up to 30 mm in diameter, sepals and petals pale mauve to almost white. Median sepal galea 10-13 x c. 2-3 mm x 3-6 mm deep; spur slender, at length somewhat decurved, apically subclavate, obtuse, (15-) 25-40 mm long; lateral sepals (10-) 13-18 x 4-6 mm. Petals oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, sub oblique, acute, facing forwards. Lip c. 2 mm long. Anther c. 3 mm long, apex upcurved; stigma c. 2.5 mm in diameter; rostellum 3-5 mm tall
Habitat:
Found in the Drakensberg from the Eastern Cape, through KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho to Harrismith in the Free State; associated with rock outcrops, on rock ledges and in shallow rocky soil, from above 1800 m in the south to above 2700 m in the north.
Phenology:
Flowering from late February to the beginning of April.
Note:
In the northern part of the distribution range the plants tend to be smaller, more frequently single flowered, with a single leaf. The flowers also tend to be larger. At the southern end of the distribution range individuals with up to six flowers and three leaves occasionally occur, but the flowers tend to be smaller, showed that the species is pollinated by the long-proboscid fly Prosoeca ganglbaueri (Nemestrinidae).
Distribution:
S. Africa (Drakensberg)
References:
Flora Capensis, Vol 5, Part 3, page 3, (1913) Author: (By R. A. ROLFE.); Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 drawing/photo fide; A molecular phylogeny for the large African orchid genus Disa Bytebier 2006
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Brownleea galpinii subsp. major (Bolus) H.P.Linder, J. S. African Bot. 47: 41 (1981).
Homotypic Synonyms:
Brownleea galpinii var. major Bolus, Icon. Orchid. Austro-Afric. 1: t. 42 (1893).
Brownleea leucantha Schltr., Ann. Transvaal Mus. 10: 249 (1924).
Heterotypic Synonyms:
Brownleea fanniniae Rolfe, Bull. Misc. Inform. Kew 1920: 131 (1920).
Description:
Habitat:
This subspecies is restricted to the subalpine belt of the Natal Drakensberg, from Matatiele in the south to Mont-aux-Sources in the north; in grassland or in open Protea savanna in basaltic or sandstone derived soil, from 1800 m to about 2500 m. Flowering from the end of January to March.
Distribution:
Lesotho, KwaZulu-Natal
Brownleea galpinii Bolus, Icon. Orchid. Austro-Afric. 1: t. 42 (1893).
Description:
A glabrous herb 18-60 cm. high; stem erect terete, the base enclosed in a long acute sheath; leaves 3, cauline remote Iinear lanceolate acute 3-nerved, the lowest 10-13 cm. long, the upper gradually smaller; raceme very short subcapitate ovate or hemispherical, 8-12-fl., 1,8-3 cm. long, bracts leaflike lanceolate, shorter than the ovary; side sepals lanceolate acute, 6 mm, long; odd sepal (with the petals) galeate funnel-shaped, tapering upwards, obtuse, free at the apex and often recurved, as long as the side sepals, produced at base into a filiform spur about half the length of the ovary ; petals somewhat ovate, as long as the mouth of the galea, front margin waved and crisped, a rounded lobe near the base; lower part of the lip a half-ring closely clasping the base of the stigma, lamina free linear erect, about 1 mm, long; arms of the rostellum elongate parallel approximate. Flowers as " white, the petals purple spotted."
A key to the subspecies of Brownleea galpinii
Habitat:
In grasslands, streambanks and seepages at elevations of 1500 to 2250 meters.
Note:
The species is distinct by its petals and its very short raceme.
Distribution:
Zimbabwe to S. Africa
References:
New Orchids: Decade XLVII Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), Vol. 1920, No. 4 (1920), pp. 128-132; The evolution of floral nectaries in Disa (Orchidaceae: Disinae): recapitulation or diversifying innovation? Nina Hobbhahn, Annals of Botany, Vol. 112, No. 7 (November 2013), pp. 1303-1319; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11, Part 1, (1995) Author: I. la Croix and P.J. Cribb
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