Eulophia inaequalis Schltr. 1895 Photo courtesy of © Lourens Grobler

Plants and flowers insitu South Africa Photo by © Cameron & Rhoda McMaster and their African Bulbs - South African Orchid Page

LATER

Common NameThe Unequal Eulophia

Flower Size

Found in Zimbabwe, eastern Cape, Lesotho, Natal, & Transvaal on rocky slopes in grasslands at elevations of 800 to 2000 meters as a small to medium sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial with subterranean psuedobulbs giving rise to 5 to 6, in a fan, linear, acuminate leaves occuring in the later winter and spring as the leaves are just developing on an erect, laxly, 4.4 to 29.6" [11 to 73 cm] long, 5 to 15 flowered inflorescence carrying faintly vanilla scented, resupinate flowers.

This species and E parviflora are similar but differ in that this one has resupinate, widely spaced flowers with low, dentate, erose ridges on the lip crests, has a spur that is 4 to 7 mm long, a mentum that is 1 to 2 mm long and the entire lip is flexible, while in E parviflora the flowers are non resupinate and closely spaced and the lip crest has low verrucose ridges and the spur is 2 to 5 mm long and there is no mentum and the basal lip is immobile.

Synonyms Eulophia aliwalensis Rolfe 1910; Eulophia clavicornis var. inaequalis (Schltr.) A.V.Hall 1965; Eulophia engleri Rolfe 1910; Eulophia hians var. inaequalis (Schltr.) S.Thomas 1998; *Eulophia inaequalis Schltr. 1895; Eulophia keniensis Schltr.1924; Eulophia longipes Rolfe 1910; Eulophia transvaalensis Rolfe 1910; Eulophia watkinsonii Rolfe 1913

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo fide as Eulophia clavicornis var. inaequalis photo fide; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 2 Pope 1998 as E hians var inaequalis; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 as E clavicornis var inaequalis photo 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 as E clavicornis var inaequalis drawing fide; The Cape Orchids Liltved & Johnson 2012 as E hians var inaequalis photos fide

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