Pterygodium catholicum [L.]Sw. 1800 SECTION Pterygodium

Plant and Flower in Situ South Africa

Photos by Tyrone Genade

Colony of Plants and Flowers in Situ South Africa Photos by © Cameron McMaster

EARLY

Common Name The Frequent Pterygodium - Mammakappie - Moederkappie - Mombakkiesblom - Oumakappie - Cowled Friars

Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]

Found only in southern southwestern Cape Province, South Africa as a slender, small to medium sized, cold growing terrestrial in short, open scrub in sandy, wet soils at elevations of 15 to 1600 meters and flower only after a fire sweeps the grassland with a rather stout, somewhat flexuous stem giving rise to cauline, distant, oblong to elliptic-oblong, sessile leaves and blooms in the spring through early summer on an erect, 1/2" to 12" [1.25 cm to 30 cm] long, 1 to 14 flowered inflorescence carrying strongly, pungent scented flowers..

Synonyms Arethusa alaris (L.f.) Raeusch. 1797; *Ophrys alaris L.f 1871; *Ophrys catholica L. 1760; Pterygodium alare (L.f.) Druce 1917

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 5 257- 320 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1974; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo fide; African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzwell 1999 drawing/photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 66 #1 2002 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #3 2016 drawing fide;

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