Angraecum sesquipedale Thours 1822 SECTION Angraecum
Photo by Jay Pfahl
LATE
Flower Size To 7" [to 16.5 cm] Spur to 14" [to 35 cm]
Common Name The One and a Half Foot Long Angraecum - Comet Orchid
Found on the island of Madagascar at altitudes of sea level to 100 meters or less on sloping tree trunks and crotches of trees near the seashore and it is consistantly hot and has abundant rainfall year round as a large sized, hot growing species with rarely straight, many leafed stems with distichous, ligulate, coriaceous, unequally bilobed apically leaves that blooms in the late fall, winter spring and summer on shorter than the leaves, 12" [30 cm] long, bracteate, axillary, 1 to 6 flowered inflorescence that produce large, waxy, long-lived, fragrant, jasmine scented flowers
This species was made famous by Charles Darwin's prediction that there would be a pollinator out there that could reach to the bottom of the extremely long [up to 14" [35 cm] long] spur in the back of the flower. His prediction came true with the discovery of a long-tongued hawk moth, Xanthopan morganii praedicta Photo by Tony Watkinson, about 100 years later.
Synonyms Aeranthes sesquipedalis[Thou]Lindley 1824; Aeranthus sesquipedalis[Thou]Lindley; Angorchis sesquipedale [Thou]O.Ktze. 1891; Angraecum bosseri Senghas 1973; Angraecum sesquipedale var. angustifolium Bosser & Morat 1972; Macroplectrum sesquipedale [Thou]Rolfe; Macroplectrum sesquipedale[Thou.] Pfitz. 1889; Mystacidium sesquipedale Rolfe 1904
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Historie Particulier des Plantes Orchidees Recueilles Sur Trois Iles Australes d'Afrique Thouars 1822 drawing fide; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 photo fide; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 as Macroplectrum sesquipedale drawing fide; Flora Of Madagascar Perrier 1939/1981 drawing fide; ; AOS Bulletin Vol 26 No 2 1957; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 10 1958 drawing; AOS Bulletin Vol 28 No 4 1959 moth only; AOS Bulletin Vol 28 No 6 1959 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 33 No 3 1964 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 33 No 5 1964 photo; AOS Orchid Culture 1963 photo fide; Encylopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 39 No 4 1970 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 39 No 11 1970 drawing fide; Orchid Digest No 38 No 2 1974 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 47 No 9 1978 photo fide; Orquideologia Vol 14 No 1 1979 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 49 No 10 1980 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 50 No 9 1981 photo plant only; Orchid Digest Vol 46 No 3 1982 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 52 No 9 1983 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 53 No 7 1984 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 54 No 2 1985 photo fide; Rudolph Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 16/17/18 945-1128 Brieger, Senghas 1985 drawing/ photo fide; Rudolph Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 16/17/18 945-1128 Brieger 1985 as A bosseri photo fide;AOS Bulletin Vol 55 No 2 1986 photo fide; Cultivated Angraecoid Orchids Of Madagascar Hillerman & Holst 1986 as A sesquipedale var angustifolia photo fide; Simon & Schuster's Guide to Orchids Fanfani & Rossi 1988; A Culture Manual for Angraecoid Orchid Growers Hillerman 1992 photo fide; Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb, Laurent 1992 photo fide; The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchds Pridgeon 1992; Orchid Digest Vol 57 No 2 1993 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 62 # 11 1993 drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 58 No 2 1994 photo fide; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995; Orchid Digest Vol 62 #3 1998 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 62 #4 1998 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 68 No 5 1999 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 68 No 8 1999 photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 42 - 43 pg 2626 - 2762 Brieger 2001; AOS Bulletin Vol 71 No 3 2002; AOS Bulletin Vol 71 No 5 2002 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 9 2003 drawing fide; Boletim CAOB #52 2003; Botanica's Orchids Laurel Glen 2004; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 11 2005 photo fide; Flora's Orchids Nash and La Croix 2005; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 1 2006 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 75 No 5 2006 drawing fide ; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 No 12 2006 photo fide; Angraecoid Orchids Stewart, Hermans, Campbell 2006; Australian Orchid Review Vol 72 No 6 12/07-1/08; AOS Bulletin Vol 76 No 7 2007 photo fide; Orchids of Madagascar Hermans, Du Puy, Cribb & Bosser 2007 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 72 #1 2008 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 No 6 2008 photo good; AOS Bulletin vol 78 No 12 2009 photo fide; Field Guide to the Orchids of Madagascar Cribb & Hermans 2009 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 75 #2 2011 Photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 80 #6 2011 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 76 #2 2012 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 83 #1 2013 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 78 #4 Pupulin 2014 drawing/photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 83 #9 2014 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 84 #11 2015 photo fide; Les Orchidees de Madagascar Bosser & Lecoufle 2015 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #2 2016; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #6 2017 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 82 #1 2018 photo fide; A la Recherche des Orchidees de Madagascar Hervouet 2018 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 #2 2019 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 #4 2019 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 88 #7 2019 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol #9 2019 photo fide;
Angraecum sesquipedale var. angustifolium Bosser & Morat 1972
The stem longer to 3 meters but other dimensions smaller than the type and 1 to 2 flowered inflorescence with slightly smaller flowers. Found at elevations of sealevel to 100 meters as a giant sized, hot growing terrestrial or lithophyte on rocks or sand.
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Field Guide to the Orchids of Madagascar Cribb & Herman 2009 photo fide; Les Orchidees de Madagascar Bosser & Lecoufle 2015 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #2 2017 photo fide;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
