Brachycorythis congoensis Kraenzl. 1898Photo by © Robert v. Blittersdorff and The African Plants Photo Guide Website

LATE EARLY

Common Name The Congo Brachycorythis

Flower Size

Found in Zaire, Burundi, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania in damp grasslands on clay or sandy soils often in brachystegia woodlands at elevations of 1050 to 1350 meters as a large sized, cool growing terrestrial with tuberous, more or less cylindrical roots giving rise numerous, lanceolate, acuminate decreasing in size upwards leaves that blooms in the late spring and early summer on a terminal, erect, rachis to 11.2" [28 cm] long, many flowered inflorescence with leafy, the lowermost longer than the the flowers, shorter above floral bracts and carrying mauve or purple flowers with the inner parts often whitish with purple spots or streaks.

Synonyms Brachycorythis hirschbergii Braid 1925; Gyaladenia congoensis (Kraenzl.) Szlach. 2006

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Flora Of Tropical East Africa Vol 1 Summerhayes 1968; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing/photo fide; Flore D'Afrique Centrale [Zaire- Rwands - Burundi] Orhidaceae Premeir parte Geerink 1984 drawing fide; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part One Pope 1995;

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