Huttonaea Harv., Thes. Cap. 2(1): t. 101 (1863).
Synonyms:
Hallackia Harv., Thes. Cap. 2: 2 (1863).
Description:
Plants terrestrial, perennating with tubers; stems erect, 150-400 mm tall; basal sheaths 1-2, usually membranous; leaves 2, upper often smaller than, the lower, rarely petiolate, blades usually patent, narrowly to broadly elliptic, rounded to acute, apiculate. inflorescences lax, 1-25-flowered; bracts about as long as the ovary, green, narrowly I lanceolate. Flowers resupinate, white to mauve, 8- 25 mm in diameter. Sepals equal to unequal, entire to dentate, lorate to quadrate-rhomboid. Petals spathulate, claws often united with each other and with the median sepal, blades galeate, saccate or calcarate, with glandular hairs at the entrance to the sac, margins more or less deeply and finely lacerated of fimbriate. Lip pendent, ovate to transversely elliptic, fimbriate. Gynostemium short; anther with 2 parallel or basally diverging thecae; pollinia 2, sectile, viscidia 2, large, separate; stigma small or large, bipulvinate.
Type species: Huttonaea pulchra Harv., Thes. Cap. 2: 1 (1863).
Distribution:
S. Africa
Notes:
Several of the species are rare, and an understanding of the pollination biology and ecology would be necessary to formulate sensible conservation policies.
Cultivation:
Not in cultivation
Key to the genus Huttonaea Harv.
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 1/21/2010
Bibliography and References:
Kurzweil H, Linder HP, Stern WL, Pridgeon AM. 1995 Comparative vegetative anatomy and classification of Diseae (Orchidaceae). Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 117. 171-220.).
Kurzweil H. 1989 Floral morphology and ontogeny in Huttonaea pulchra. Lindleyana 4. (1): 1-5 (1989)
Linder HP, Kurzweil H. 1994 The phylogeny and classification of the diseae (Orchidoideae: Orchidaceae). Ann. missouri Bot. Gard. 81. 687-713.