Flora Zambesiaca

Taxon Detail

Back to search results

FZ volume:11 part:2 (1998) Orchidaceae by I. la Croix & P.J. Cribb

(Search other Kew databases for: Angraecum angustipetalum)

Angraecum angustipetalum Rendle

Cat. Talb. S. Nig. Pl.: 106, pl. 14, figs. 10?12 (1913). ?Summerhayes in Kew Bull. 13: 272 (1958); in F.W.T.A., ed. 2, 3: 257 (1968). ?Geerinck in Fl. Afr. Centr., Orchidaceae pt. 2: 474 (1992). Type from Nigeria.

Synonyms:

Angraecum nr. angustipetalum Morris

of , Epiphyt. Orch. Malawi: 84 (1970). ?la Croix et al., Orch. Malawi: 242 (1991).

Distribution:

Malawi

S: Mulanje Distr., Mrs Arthur Shinn 191 (BM).

Range:

Cameroon;  Gabon;  Ghana;  Nigeria;  Zaire; 

Habitat:

No details of habitat are given for the Malawi collection; elsewhere Angraecum angustipetalum occurs in dense evergreen forest 

Description:

Epiphytic herb; stem leafy, elongated, up to c. 40 cm long.Roots borne along the stem, c. 1 mm in diameter.Leaves many, distichous, 3.5?5.5 × 1.5?1.7 cm, ovate or elliptic, very unequally 2-lobed at the apex, with one lobe ± absent, the other to 4 mm long and acute.Inflorescences borne along the stem, opposite leaves, 1-flowered; peduncle c. 1 mm long.Flowers white.Sepals 13?18 × 1.5 mm, linear-lanceolate.Petals 11?12 mm long, almost filiform from a broader base.Lip c. 15 × 5 mm, ovate; spur 10?11 mm long, the last 5 mm swollen and fusiform.

Notes:

In the Flora Zambesiaca area, this species is known only from 2 collections.These were made by the same person in Malawi, between 1915 and 1919.Although the area has been well collected and this species actively sought, it has not been found since.As most of the land around the base of Mt. Mulanje has been planted with tea, it is possible that the species no longer exists in the area; however, if it came from the forests on one of the plateaux, it could still reappear.It is not the only example of a species with a West African distribution occurring in Malawi; that of Eggelingia clavata is similar.

Flora Zambesiaca