!Centrostigma occultans (Welw. ex Rchb.f.) Schltr. 1915

Photo by © Lourens Grobler

Fragrance Partial sun Cool Cold LATE Spring EARLYSummer

Common Name The Hidden Centrostigma [refers to the long spur hidden by the floral bracts]

Flower Size 1.5" [3.75 cm]

Found in Zaire, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Zambia and Transvaal South Africa in marshy grasslands at elevations around 1200 to 2100 meters as a medium to large sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial with globose to almost cylindrical, glabrous to sparsely hairy tubers giving rise to an erect, slender to rather stout, leafy throughout, somewhat angular stem carrying 7 to 10, lowermost 1 to 2, reduced to tight sheaths and the rest erect to suberect, narrowly lanceolate to linear, acute or acuminate leaves that blooms in the late spring and early summer on an erect, 2.4 to 6.4" [6 to 16 cm] long, 3 to 10 flowered inflorescence with erect, leaf-like, lanceolate, acute, longer than the pedicel floral bracts and carrying sweet-soapy scented flowers.

Synonyms Centrostigma nyassanum Schltr. 1915; Centrostigma schlechteri (Kraenzl. ex Schltr.) Schltr. 1915; *Habenaria occultans Welw. ex Rchb.f. 1865; Habenaria schlechteri Kraenzl. ex Schltr. 1895

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Xenia Orchidaceae Vol 3 Reichenbach 1896 as Habenaria schlechteri drawing fide; An Introduction to the South African Orchids Schelpe 1966; Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968 drawing fide; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 5 257- 320 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1974; 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; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 photo fide; Genera Orchidacearum Vol 2 Part One Pridgeon, Cribb, Chase and Rasmussen 2001 photo/drawing fide; 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; Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 1 Szlatchecko etal 2010 drawing fide

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