Platycoryne Rchb.f., Bonplandia (Hannover) 3: 212 (1855).
Description:
Herbs with the appearance of Habenaria, very thin; tubers 2, leaves cauline inflorescence several flowered, flowers, brilliant, entirely of bright yellow-orange Sepals and petals narrow, petals adnate to the median sepal which are all nearly equal in length. Labellum entire, linear, narrow, spurred. Anther nearly free, attached only at its wide base, villous narrow long, obliquely upright, topped with a large, flat, recurved, apical appendage, channel elongated, joined with the arms of the rostellum; pollina linear, cauda filiform and rigid, viscidiums oval, staminodes wide, almost fimbriated marginally. Rostellum with long, cursed arms and a thickened median lobe, which is narrow and half as long as the arms. Stigmas joined by a wide lip, semi-oval, thick, hollowed basally and provided with 2 columns of large yellow papilla.
Distribution:
Trop. Africa, Madagascar
Cultivation:
Not in cultivation.
Species:
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.kew.org/wcsp/ accessed 04/11/2020
Bibliography and References:
Fibeck W. 2001 A new variety of Platycoryne (Orchidaceae) from Zimbabwe. Kirkia 17. (2): 146 (2000 publ. 2001)
Geerinck D. 1982 Notes taxonomiques sur des Orchidacees d'Afrique centrale :9 Bull. Jard. Bot. Nation. Belg., 52. (3/4): 341-347 (1982)
Kurzweil H, Burrows S. 2005 Platycoryne mediocris. Flow. Pl. Afr. 59. 60-66
Kurzweil H, Weber A. 1992 Floral morphology of southern African Orchideae: II. Habenariinae. Nordic J. Bot. 12. 39-61.