Polystachya fusiformis (Thouars) Lindl. 1925 SECTION Superpositae Kranzlin Photo by © Alan Gregg
Plant in situ Zimbabwe Photo by Bart Wursten ©, and his Flora Of Zimbabwe WebSite
EARLY
Common Name The Fusiform Polystachya [refers to the pseudobulbs]
Flower Size .1" [2 mm]
Found in Ghana, Cameroon, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Islands, Rwwanda, Zaire, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Madagascar, Reunion, Seychelles and Cape, Natal and Transvall states of South Africa in warm forests at elevations of 900 to 2300 meters as a mass-forming, small to large sized, erect to pendant, hot to warm growing epiphyte with slender, cylindric to fusiform pseudobulbs each arising from the center of a previous one and carrying 2 to 4, only on the terminal pseudobulb, lanceolate to oblanceolate leaves that blooms in the early winter on a termianl, erect, pubescent, 2 to 3" [4 to 8 cm] long, densely many flowered, usually paniculate but occasionally racemose inflorescence with lanceolate, acuminate bracts
Synonyms *Dendrobium fusiforme Thouars 1822; Dendrorkis minutiflora (Ridl.) Kuntze 1891; Polystachya minutiflora Ridl. 1883; Polystachya multiflora Ridl. 1885
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Historie Particulier des Plantes Orchidees Recueilles Sur Trois Iles Australes d'Afrique Thouars 1822 as Dendrobium fusiforme drawing fide; The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing ok; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo; Malawi Orchids La Croix 1983; Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 2 Cribb 1984; Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Part 2 Pope 1998; Orchids of Kenya Stewart 1996; African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997; Orchids of Madagascar Hermans 2007 photo; Field Guide to the Orchids of Northern South Africa and Swaziland McMurty, Grobler, Grobler & Burns 2008; Field Guide to the Orchids of Madagascar Cribb & Herman 2009 photo
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