Polystachya longiscapa Summerh. 1934 SECTION Dendrobianthe Schlechter Photo courtesy of Danny Lentz ©, plant grown by the Atlanta Botanical Garden

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Common Name The Long Inflorescence Polystachya

Flower Size 2" [5 cm]

Found in Tanzania as a medium to large sized, warm to cool growing lithophyte on mountain slopes at elevations of 1100 to 1600 meters with conical, clustered pseudobulbs carrying 4 to 8, linear, acute, sometimes purple blotched, deciduous leaves that blooms in the spring on a terminal, 3 foot [90 cm] long, branched, several flowered inflorescence with overlapping sheaths. Give this species a bark or terrestrial mix, bright light and a dry winter rest after the leaves fall.

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; AOS Bulletin Vol 52 No 11 1983 photo; Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 2 Cribb 1984; African Orchids in the Wild and Cultivation La Croix 1997; Orchid Digest Vol 71 No 3 2007 photo;

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