!Brachypeza archytas (Ridl.) Garay 1972 Photo by David Banks

Common Name The ? Brachypeza - In Australia The Sage Orchid

Flower Size .35 to .4" [.8 to 1 cm]

Found only on Christmas Island low down on trunks of large trees at elevations of sea level to 100 meters as a small to medium sized, hot growing epiphyte with a short stem enveloped completely by imbricating leaf bearing sheaths and carrying 4 to 5 strap shaped, often yellowish green, unequally bilobed apically leaves held in a fan shape that blooms in the spring through fall on an axillary, arching, 6 to 14" [15 to 35 cm] long, many flowered inflorescence with crowded, successively opening flowers.

Synonyms *Saccolabium archytas Ridl. 1891; Sarcochilus archytas (Ridl.) Schltr. 1913

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 21 1165 - 1328 Brieger 1988 drawing ok; Native Orchids of Australia Jones 2006; Genera Orchidacearum Vol 6 Epidendroideae Part 3 Pridgeon, Cribb. Chase and Rasmussen 2014

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