Polystachya macropoda Summerh. 953 SECTION Cultriformes

TYPE Collection Sheet by © J Louis and Kew's Plants of the World Website

Common Name The Large Foot Polystachya

Flower Size

Found in Zaire, Burundi and Rwanda, in montane forests at elevations around 2200 to 2300 meters as a small sized, cold growing epiphyte with a short creeping rhizome giving rise to tufted, erect, slender pseudobulbs or stems carrying a single, linear-ligulate, subacute to obtuse, shortly bilobulate, 5 nerved beneath, narrowing belo9w into the base leaf that blooms in the fall and winter on a simple to racemose, peduncle slender, smooth 1.2 to 2" [3 ro 5 cm] long, 1.6 to 2.8" [4 to 7 cm] long, loosely 2 to 4 flowered inflorescence much shoreter thanthe pedicel floral bracts and carrying suberect, yellow to orange, red spotted flowers.

"This species is clearly related to P. gracilenta and was confused with that species by Kraenzlin in his account of the orchids of Mildbraed's Central African collections. The species is characterised by the short inflorescences, rather long slender mentum to the flower and the distinctly trilobed labellum. These floral characters are well shown in the sup- posed illustration of P. gracilenta cited above. That species, however, has an extremely long branched inflorescence towering above the leaves and a very acute undivided labellum." Summerhayes 1953

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;

* Kew Bull. 8: 137 Summerhayes 1953;

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