Eulophia speciosa (R.Br. ex Lindl.) Bolus 1889

Side View of Flower Photos courtesy of © Lourens Grobler

Inflorescence Photo by © Cameron & Rhoda McMaster and their African Bulbs - South African Orchid Page

Partial shade Cool LATE Spring EARLY Summer

Common Name The Beautiful Eulophia

Flower Size to 1" [to 2.5 cm]

Found in Burundi, Zaire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanazania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, Natal, and Transvaal South Africa as well as Saudia Arabia and Yemen in grasslands, deciduous woodlands often in poor rocky soils or snd dunes at sea level to 2000 meters as a large to giant sized, hot to cool growing terrestrial with chains of irregular shaped, underground pseudobulbs and carrying 3 to 6, arising after or with the flowers, fleshy to succulent, conduplicate leaves that blooms in the late spring and early summer on a very long, 10 to 30 flowered inflorescence with very long lasting, fragrant flowers.

Synonyms Cymbidium giganteum (L.f.) Sw. 1799; Cyrtopera gigantea (L.f.) Lindl. 1833; Epidendrum giganteum (L.f.) Poir. 1810; Eulophia austrooccidentalis Sölch 1956; Eulophia brevisepala (Rendle) Summerh. 1953; Eulophia caloptera (Rchb.f.) Summerh. 1947 publ. 1948; Eulophia coutreziana Geerinck 1990; Eulophia dispersa N.E.Br. 1892; Eulophia granitica (Rchb.f.) Cufod.1972; Eulophia homblei (De Wild.) Butzin 1975; Eulophia leucantha (Kraenzl.) Sölch 1956; Eulophia sapinii De Wild. 1919; Eulophia volkensii (Rolfe) Butzin 1975; Eulophia wakefieldii (Rchb.f. & S.Moore) Summerh. 1939; Limodorum giganteum (L.f.) Thunb. 1794; Lissochilus brevisepalus Rendle 1895; Lissochilus calopterus Rchb.f. 1855; Lissochilus dispersus (N.E.Br.) Rolfe 1893; Lissochilus graniticus Rchb.f. 1881; Lissochilus hereroensis Kraenzl. 1908; Lissochilus homblei De Wild.1919; Lissochilus leucanthus Kraenzl. 1904; Lissochilus rendlei Rolfe 1897; Lissochilus sapinii De Wild. 1919; *Lissochilus speciosus R.Br. ex Lindl. 1821; Lissochilus volkensii Rolfe 1897; Lissochilus wakefieldii Rchb.f. & S.Moore 1878; Satyrium giganteum L.f. 1782

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1855 as Lissochilus calopterus; Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1881 as Lissochilus graniticus; Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1881 as Lissochilus calopterus; Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1881 as Lissochilus wakefieldii; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 as E wakefieldii drawing ok; Orchid Digest Vol 44 No 2 1980; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 52 No 1 1983 photo; Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 3 Cribb 1989; Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996 photo fide; African Orchids in Cultivation and the Wild Stewart 1997; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 2 Pope 1998; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzwell 1999; Field Guide to the Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004 photo fide; 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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