Polystachya transvaalensis Schltr. 1895 SECTION Caulescentes

Plant and Flowers in situ Zimbabwe

Photo by P. Ballings Courtesy of Bart Wursten ©, and his Flora Of Zimbabwe WebSite

Common Name The Transvaal Polystachya [A State of South Africa]

Flower Size 1/2" [1.2 cm]

Found in Burundi, Cameroon, Gulf of Guinea Islands, Rwanda, Zaire, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Natal and Transvaal South Africa in lower montane and submontane forests at elevations of 1200 to 2900 meters as a small sized, cool to cold growing epiphyte or occasional lithophyte with elongate, cylindrical pseudobubls enveloped by black, tubular sheaths and carryig 2 to 9, leathery, ligulate, obtuse, dark green often flushed with purple leaves that blooms in the spring and summer on a terminal, 1.2 to 5.2" [3 to 13 cm] long, racemose to few branched, 5 to 12 flowered inflorescence and carrying non-resupinate flowers.

Synonyms Polystachya natalensis Rolfe 1912; Polystachya nigrescens Rendle 1895; Polystachya rendlei Rolfe 1897; Polystachya transvaalensis subsp. kahuziana Mytnik 2011

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968; The Epiphytic Orchids of Malawi Morris 1970; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing/photo ok; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo fide; Malawi Orchids vol 1 La Croix 1983 drawing good; Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 2 Cribb 1984; Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 2 Cribb 1984; Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 23 1393 - 1456 Brieger 1990; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992; Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996; African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997 photo good; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part 2 Pope 1998; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 drawing/photo fide; Field Guide to the Orchids of Northern South Africa and Swaziland McMurty, Grobler, Grobler & Burns 2008 photo fide; Orchidaceae of West Central Africa Vol 2 Szlatch. etal 2014 drawing ok

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