Zeuxine gilgiana Kraenzl. & Schltr., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 38: 150 (1906).
Description:
Rhizome ca. 9 cm long, 3 mm in diameter, creeping. Stem up to 26 cm tall, erect, delicate, densely glandular above leaves. Leaves gathered in the lower part of the stem, 3-5, falling at flowering time; petiole and sheath 9-15 mm long; blade 3.3-5.5 cm long, 1.2-2.1 cm wide, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, acute. Cauline bracts 2-3, up to 14 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, acute, amplexicaul, thin, densely glandular outside. Inflorescence 8-10 cm long, 20-30-flowered, lax in the lower and dense in the upper part. Flowers small, resupinate, tubular, perianth segments pale green and pink, lip bright orange to orange-red. Floral bract 6-7 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, acute, thin, membraneous, glandular outside. Pedicel ca. 0.6 mm long, twisted. Ovary 5 mm long, narrow, glandular. Sepals thin, delicate, rather densely glandular outside. Dorsal sepal 1.8-3.6 mm long, 1.2-2 mm wide, ovate, attenuate towards apex, cochleate, sometimes cucullate at the apex, subobtuse, single-nerved. Lateral sepals 2.1-3.1 mm long, 0.9-1.1 mm wide, obliquely oblong-ovate, obtuse to subacute, cochleate, sometimes cucullate, single-nerved. Petals 1.8-3.5 mm long, 0.4-1.2 mm wide, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, subacute, agglutinate to dorsal sepal, singlenerved. Lip sessile, constricted in the apical third; basal part 1.6-2 mm long, 0.9-1 mm wide, saccate with two fleshy, large projections inside, oblong-ovate in general outline, with involute margins, thickened towards apex; apical part 0.8-1 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, reniform, sometimes with small apiculus.
Habitat:
Gallery forests, rain-forests. Novem-ber-February, June-August.
Cultivation:
As given for the genus.
Distribution:
Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea (Annobon, Bioko), Gabon, the Repubhc of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire). Alt. 300-1500 m.
References:
Orchidaceae of West-central Africa, vol. 1, Gdansk University Press Gdansk 2010