!Centrostigma occultans (Welw. ex Rchb.f.) Schltr. 1915

Photo courtesy of © Lourens Grobler

LATE EARLY

Common Name The Hidden Centrostigma [refers to the long spur hidden by the floral bracts]

Flower Size 1.5" [3.75 cm]

Found in Zaire, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Zambia and Transvaal South Africa in marshy grasslands at elevatioms around 1200 to 2100 meteres as a medium to large sized, cool growing terrestrial with globose to almosr cylindrical, glabrous to sparsely hairy tubers giving rise to an erect, slender to rather stout, leafy throughout, somewhat angular stem carrying 7 to 10, lowermost 1 to 2, reduced to tight sheaths and the rest erect to suberect, narrowly lanceolate to linear, acute or acuminate leaves that blooms in the late spring and early summer on an erect, 2.4 to 6.4" [6 to 16 cm] long, 3 to 10 flowered inflorescence with erect, leaf-like, lanceolate, acute, longer than the pedicel floral bracts and carrying sweet-soapy scented flowers.

Synonyms Centrostigma nyassanum Schltr. 1915; Centrostigma schlechteri (Kraenzl. ex Schltr.) Schltr. 1915; *Habenaria occultans Welw. ex Rchb.f. 1865; Habenaria schlechteri Kraenzl. ex Schltr. 1895

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Xenia Orchidaceae Vol 3 Reichenbach 1896 as Habenaria schlechteri drawing fide; An Introduction to the South African Orchids Schelpe 1966; Flora of Tropical East Africa Part 1 Summerhayes 1968; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing fide; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo fide; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 1 Pope 1995; Field Guide to the Orchids of Northern South Africa and Swaziland McMurty, Grobler, Grobler & Burns 2008 photos fide; Terrestrial African Orchids, A select Review John S. Ball 2009 drawing fide

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