Polystachya spatella Kraenzl. 1894 SECTION Superpositae Kranzlin

Plant and Flowers Photos by Copyright © Alan Gregg Swansea Botanical Complex

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Common Name The Spatula-Shaped Polystachya

Flower Size 5/8" [1.65 cm]

Found in Burundi, Rwanda, Zaire, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in montane and submontane forests and woodlands at elevations of 1600 to 2700 meters as a small sized, erect to pendant, cool to cold growing epiphyte with cylindrical to spindle shaped pseudobulbs arising from the apex of an older pseudobulb and carrying 2, suberect, linear-lanceolate, acute to rounded, unequally bilobed apically leaves and blooms in the late winter and early spring on a termianl, 2" [5 cm] long, few [2 to 8] flowered, racemose inflorescence with ovate to lanceolate, acuminate bracts.

Synonyms Polystachya elliotii Rendle 1895

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968; Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 2 Cribb 1984; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 23 1393 - 1456 Brieger 1990 ; Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996; African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997 photo/drawing fide; Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 2 Szlatch. etal 2014 drawing fide

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