!Microcoelia exilis Lindl. 1830
Photos by Bart Wursten ©, and his Flora Of Zimbabwe WebSite
Photo by Sean Ashby
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Common Name The Thin-Leafed Microcoelia - In Kenya - Ndiko
Flower Size 1/32" to 1/16" [1 to 2mm]
Found in Natal South Africa, Swaziland, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Zambia on trees in riverine and coastal forests, often in the smallest branches almost hanging free, at elevations around 500 to 2000 meters as a miniature sized, warm to cool growing, leafless epiphyte with short stems carrying many silvery gray green roots that blooms in nature in the fall to spring on several [2 to 5], axillary, thin, arching, 3/4" to 5" [2 to 13 cm] long, racemose, many [15 to 20] flowered inflorescence occuring .
A grey paint is extracted from the roots by boiling that is often used to ornament arrows.
Synonyms Angraecum chiloschistae Rchb. f. 1847; Epidorkis exilis (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Gussonea chiloschistae (Rchb. f.) Schltr. 1918; Gussonea exilis (Lindl.) Ridl. 1885; Mystacidium exile (Lindl.) T.Durand & Schinz 1894; Rhaphidorhynchus chiloschistae (Rchb.f.) Finet 1907
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Flora of Madagascar Perrier 1939/1981 as Gussonea exilis; The Epiphytic Orchids of Malawi Morris 1970; AOS Bulletin Vol 44 #4 1975 photo ok; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing/photo fide; A Monograph of the Genus Microcoelia [Orchidaceae] Jonsson 1981 drawing; Orquideologia Vol 15 #2-3 1982 photo ok; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo good; Malawi Orchids Vol 1 La Croix 1983 drawing good; Rudolph Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 16/17/18 945-1128 Brieger 1985 drawing hmm/photo ok; Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 3 Cribb 1989; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; The Orchids of Kenya Stewart & Campbell 1996 photo good; African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part 2 Pope 1998 photo ok; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 3 2003 photo good; Angraecoid Orchids Stewart, Hermans, Campbell 2006 photo fide; Orchids of Madagascar Hermans. Du Puy, Cribb & Bosser 2007; 2007; Field Guide to the Orchids of Northern South Africa and Swaziland McMurty, Grobler, Grobler & Burns 2008; Field Guide to the Orchids of Madagascar Cribb & Hermans 2009 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 78 #4 2014 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 84 #10 2015 photo fide;
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