Brachycorythis ovata Lindl. 1838
Photo by © Lourens Grobler
EARLY
Common Name The Ovate Brachycorythis
Flower Size .8" [2 cm]
Found in Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Zaire, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal South Africa in open sunny grasslands or on steep hillsides at elevations of 200 to 2500 meters as a medium sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial with numerous, lanceolate, acute, decreasing in size up the stem leaves that blooms in the spring and early summer on a lax to dense, to 14" [35 cm] long, many [40 to 100] flowered inflorescence with leaf-like bracts and carrying slightly violet-like to medicinal scented flowers.
Synonyms Brachycorythis acutiloba Rendle 1911; Brachycorythis allisonii Rolfe 1912; Brachycorythis grandis Kraenzl. 1914; Brachycorythis grandis var. sudanensis Braid 1925; Brachycorythis grandis var. ugandensis (Schltr.) Braid 1925; Brachycorythis ovata subsp. schweinfurthii (Rchb.f.) Summerh. 1955; Brachycorythis ovata var. schweinfurthii (Rchb.f.) Szlach. & Olszewski1998; Brachycorythis ovata subsp. welwitschii (Rchb.f.) Summerh. 1955; Brachycorythis schweinfurthii Rchb.f. 1878; Brachycorythis schweinfurthii var. nigerica Braid 1925; Brachycorythis ugandensis Schltr. 1922; Brachycorythis welwitschii Rchb.f. 1867; Platanthera ovata (Lindl.) Schltr. 1890
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1878 as B schweinfurthii; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as B schweinfurthii; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 B welwitschii; An Introduction to the South African Orchids Schelpe 1966; Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968; Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968 photo fide; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 4 193 to 256 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1973; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing fide; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo fide; Flore D'Afrique Centrale [Zaire- Rwands - Burundi] Orhidaceae Premeir parte Geerink 1984 drawing fide; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 1 Pope 1995; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part One Pope 1995 as B ovata subsp welwitschii; Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996 as B ovata ssp schweinfurthii; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 drawing/photo fide; Les Orchidees de Cote d'Ivorie Perez-Vera 2003 photo/drawing fide; Field Guide to the Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004; Field Guide to the Orchids of Northern South Africa and Swaziland McMurty, Grobler, Grobler & Burns 2008 photos fide; Terrestrial African Orchids, A select Review John S. Ball 2009 drawing fide
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