Diaphananthe fragrantissima (Rchb.f.) Schltr. 1918

Photo by © Lourens Grobler

Common Name The Fragrant Diaphananthe

Flower Size 3/4" [2.1 cm]

Found in Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Rwanda, Zaire, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Natal South Africa in woodlands and riverine forests on trunks and lower branches at elevations of 150 to 1400 meters as a medium sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte with pendant stems enveloped in the lower half by leaf sheaths and carrying several, pendant, fleshy, linear-oblanceolate, unequally and acutely bilobed apically, dull green leaves that blooms in the summer and fall on a pendant, 8 to 24" [20 to 60 cm] long, fairly densely many flowered inflorescence with fragrant flowers held in whorls of four or in opposite pairs.

Synonyms Angraecum muansae Kraenzl. 1908; Diaphananthe falcata (De Wild.) Schltr. 1918; Diaphananthe fimbriata Schltr. 1918; Diaphananthe kirkii (Rolfe) Schltr. 1918; Diaphananthe muansae (Kraenzl.) Schltr. 1918; Epidorkis fragrantissima (Rchb.f.) Kuntze 1891; Listrostachys falcata De Wild. 1903; Listrostachys fimbriata Rolfe 1906; *Listrostachys fragrantissima Rchb.f. 1865; Listrostachys kirkii Rolfe 1897; Listrostachys muansae (Kraenzl.) Schltr. 1918; Mystacidium fragrantissimum (Rchb.f.) Benth. & Hook.f. 1883;

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 drawing good; AOS Bulletin Vol 37 No 12 1968 photo ok; Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968 photo ok; The Epiphytic Orchids of Malawi Morris 1970; AOS Bulletin Vol 44 #4 1975; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing/photo fide; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo ok; Malawi Orchids Vol 1 La Croix 1983 drawing fide; Rudolph Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 16/17/18 945-1128 Brieger 1985; Orchids of the Central African Republic - A Provisional Checklist Cribb & Fay 1987; Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 3 Cribb 1989; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo ok; Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996 photo fide; African Orchids in the wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part 2 Pope 1998; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 drawing/photo fide; Field Guide to the Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004; Angraecoid Orchids Stewart, Hermans and Campbell 2006

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