Tridactyle furcistipes Summerh. 1948
Photos by © W Bachmann and The Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Jany Renz Herbaria Website
LATE
EARLY
Common Name The Forked Stipites Tridactyle [refers to the "Y" Shaped stipe]
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in montane forests and in montane scrub at elevations of 2500 to 2700 meters as a mini-miniature to miniature sized, cold growing epiphyte with a stem carrying falcate-spreading, linear, unequally rounded or bilobed apcially, conduplicate to twisted basally leaves so as to all lie in one plane that blooms in the late spring and early summer on an axillary, 1.8 to 4.4" [4.5 to 11 cm] long, stout, many flowered inflorescence with amplexicaul, broadly ovate, obconical floral bracts and carrying strongly scented flowers.
"Similar to T tricuspis but this one has much larger flowers. T furcistipes is also near T. sarcodantha Mans but this species of which I have only seen fragments in the Brussels Herbarium, has fleshier more obtuse flowers with the spur much inflated towards the apex. The stipes of the pollinarium, as in T. tricuspis is forked in the upper half one pollinium being attached to each fork, the specific epithet is given in allusion to this character." Summerhayes 1948
Synonyms
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Kew Bull. 3: 300 Summerhayes 1948 Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968 photo good; Flora of Tropical East Africa Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part 3 Cribb 1989; Orchids of Kenya Stewart & Campbell 1994 photo fide; African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997; Angraecoid Orchids Stewart, Hermans and Campbell 2006 photo fide
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