Liparis gracilenta Dandy in A.W.Exell, Cat. Vasc. Pl. S. Tomé: 322 (1944).
Homotypic Synonyms:
Liparis gracilis Rolfe, Bol. Soc. Brot. 9: 138 (1891), nom. illeg.
Description:
Rhizomes slender, creeping. Stems slender, erect, ½-1½ in. high, 2-3-leaved. Leaves lanceolate to ovate, narrowed at the base into a short sheathing petiole, limb 3/4-1½ in. long, 3-5 lin. broad. Scapes 2½ in. high; raceme lax, few-flowered. Bracts lanceolate-ovate, acute, 1 lin. long. Pedicels 4 lin. long. Dorsal sepal lanceolate-linear, obtuse, 3 lin. long; lateral ones united nearly to the apex in a suborbicular body, 2 lin. long. Petals narrowly falcate-linear, obtuse, a little longer than the sepals. Lip reniform-ovate, 2 lin. long, 3 lin. broad, with three inconspicuous keels in the middle; base bituberculate. Column slender, with short, broad, obtuse wings.
Habitat:
Growing on mossy branches about 1.8 m above the ground.
Distribution:
São Tomé, Príncipe, Cameroon to Gabon
References:
Les Orchidaceae endémiques d'Afrique centrale atlantique présentes au Cameroun V. Droissart, Systematics and Geography of Plants, Vol. 76, No. 1 (2006), pp. 3-84; A.W.Exell, Cat. Vasc. Pl. S. Tomé: 322 (1944).
Images:
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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.