Polystachya armeniaca la Croix & P.J.Cribb 1996 SECTION Caulescentes Drawing by © Judi Stone

LATE EARLY

Common Name The Orange Polystachya

Flower Size 3/4” [1.8 cm]

Found in Uganda, Zaire and Zambia in dense riverine and evergreen forests at elevations of 1200 to 1400 meters as a medium sized, cool growing epiphyte with clustered, cylindric, not basally swollen stems carrying 2 to 3, suberect, narrowly lanceolate, acute, articulated to the sheathing base leaves that blooms in the spring and early summer on a terminal, shorter than the leaves, simple to shortly few branched, each branch to 1” [2.5 cm] long, peduncle glabrous, enveloped by a few loose sheaths, rachis glabrous, few flowered inflorescence with glabrous, shorter than the ovary floral bracts and carrying orange, yellow or cream colored flowers with the lip slightly darker and an orange callus with reddish veins on the sidelobes.

Related to P laxiflora but P armeniaca differs in having a short, glabrous, simple to shortly few branched inflorescence that is always shorter than the leaves and the lateral sepals are almost twice as long as those of P laxiflora.

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part 2 Pope 1998 drawing fide

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