Brownleea coerulea Harv. ex Lindl. 1842

Photo by Cameron McMasters

Common Name The Blue Brownleea

Flower Size 3/4" [2 cm]

Found in South Africa and Madagascar on rock ledges in forest patches in shade as well as in moss on trees at elevations of sealevel to 1000 to 2500 meters as a small sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial or occasional epiphytic orchid occuring on sandy or gravelly soil or clay which is dry in winter and wet in summer with solitary, sessile tubers with a slender stem and carrying 2 to 4, cauline, ovate or elliptic-ovate leaves that become bractlike towards the apex and blooms in the spring, summer and fall on a 1 to 3" [2.5 to 7.5 cm] long, loosely many [3 to 25] flowered, racemose inflorescence.

Synonyms Brownleea caerulea Harv. ex Lindl. 1842; Brownleea madagascarica Ridl. 1885; Disa caerulea (Harv. ex Lindl.) Rchb.f. 1881; Disa coerulea [Harv. ex Lindl.] Rchb.f 1881; Disa macroceras Rchb.f. 1881; Encyclopedia of cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965;

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 drawing fide; Flora of Madagascar Perrier 1939/81 as B madagascarina drawing fide; An Introduction to the South African Orchids Schelpe 1966; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 5 257- 320 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1974; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 5 257- 320 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1974 as B madagascarensis; AOS Bulletin Vol 50 No 9 1981 drawing fide; Wild Orchids of Southern Africa Stewart, Linder, Schelpe & Hall 1982 photo fide; Phylogeny and Classification of the Orchid Family Dressler 1993 photo fide; Orchids of Southern Africa Linder & Kurzweil 1999 photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 40 pg 2492 - 2564 Brieger 2000;; Orchids of Madagascar Hermans 2007 photo fide; 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 fide; Les Orchidees de Madagascar Bosser & Lecoufle 2015 photo fide; A la Recherche des Orchidees de Madagascar Hervouet 2018 photo fide;

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