Rhipidoglossum rutilum (Rchb. f.) Schltr. 1918

Photo by © Lourens Grobler

Plant and Flowers

Photo by Guy Ramette Vovan and his Gabon Orchids Website

Full shadeWarmTo HotFall

Common Name The Reddish Diaphananthe

Flower Size .18" to .25" [4 to 8 mm]

Found in Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Burundi, Ceantral African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gulf og Guinea Islands, Rwanda, Zaire, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe as a medium sized, hot to cool growing, monopodial epiphyte in evergreen forests low on trunks and branches at elevations of 100 to 2200 meters with a pendant stem carrying strap shaped, linear, or oblanceolate, unequally and roundly bilobed apically, leathery, fleshy, dark olive green, often tinged in purple leaves and blooms in the fall on an axillary, pendant, 2 to 8 " [5 to 20 cm] long, densely many flowered inflorescence.

Synonyms *Aeranthes rutilus Rchb. f. 1885; Angraecum erectocalcaratum De Wild. 1916; Angraecum woodianum Schltr. 1899; Chamaeangis schliebenii Mansf. 1933; Diaphananthe erectocalcarata (De Wild.) Summerh. 1960; Diaphananthe margaritae (De Wild.) Schltr. 1918; Diaphananthe rutila (Rchb. f.) Summerh. 1960; Listrostachys gabonensis Rolfe 1897; Listrostachys margaritae De Wild. 1903; Listrostachys multiflora Rolfe 1897; Mystacidium rutilum (Rchb. f.) T. Durand & Schinz 1895; Rhipidoglossum erectocalcaratum (De Wild.) Summerh. 1948; Rhipidoglossum woodianum (Schltr.) Schltr. 1918; Tridactyle erectocalcarata (De Wild.) Schltr. 1918

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; AOS Bulletin Vol 32 # 10 1963; Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968 as Diaphananthe rutila; The Epiphytic Orchids of Malawi Morris 1970 as Diaphananthe rutila; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 as Diaphananthe rutilum drawing/photo ok; Malawi Orchids Vol 1 La Croix 1983 as Diaphananthe rutilumdrawing fide; Rudolph Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 16/17/18 945-1128 Brieger 1986 drawing/photo fide; Orchids of the Central African Republic - A Provisional Checklist Cribb & Fay 1987; Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 3 Cribb 1989 as Diaphananthe rutila; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 as Diaphananthe rutila photo fide; Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 3 Cribb 1989; AOS Bulletin Vol 63 # 11 1994 as Diaphananthe rutila postage stamp fide; The Orchids of Kenya Stewart & Campbell 1996 as Diaphananthe rutila photo fide; African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997 as Diaphananthe rutila photo good; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part 2 Pope 1998 as Diaphananthe rutila; Les Orchidees de Cote d'Ivorie Perez-Vera 2003 as Diaphananthe rutile photo/drawing fide; Angraecoid Orchids Stewart, Hermans, Campbell 2006 photo fide; Mille et Une Mini Orchideees Roguenant 2009 photo fide;

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