Calanthe balansae Finet 1900 SUBGENUS Calanthe SECTION Styloglossum

Plant and Flowers in situ New Caledonia Photos by © Edouard Faria

MID

Common Name The Balansa Calanthe [Uruguayan Plant Collector 1800's?]

Flower Size 1/2" to .8" [1.3 to 2 cm]

Found in New Caledonia in rainforests at elevations around 400 to 1250 meters as a medium to just large sized, hot to cool growing terrestrial with an inconspicuous, swollen basally pseudobulb carrying 2, plicate, 5 nerved, light green, lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, acute, narrowing below into the petiolate base leaves that fall before the orcid blooms in the spring through mid fall on an erect, terminal, peduncle to 21.2" [53 cm] long, just longer than the leaves, to 28" [70 cm] long, several flowered inflorescence with 5 loose sheathing bracts and narrowly lanceolate floral bracts.

Synonyms Calanthe saccifera Kraenzl.1929; Styloglossum balansae ( Finet ) T.Yukawa & P.J.Cribb 2014

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , Flore de la Nouvelle-Caledonie et Dependences Vol 8 Orchidaceae Halle 1977 drawing/photo fide; Native Orchids of New Caledonia Societie Neo-Caledonienne D' Orchidophile 1995 photo fide; Malesian Orchid Journal Vol 7 2011 drawing fide; The Genus Calanthe Clayton & Cribb 2013 drawing/photo fide

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