Eulophia orthoplectra (Rchb.f.) Summerh. 1939 SECTION Lissochilus
Photo courtesy of © Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz
Photo by © C L A Leakey
EARLY 
Common Name The Straight Spurred Eulophia
Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]
Found in Chad, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, Malawi, Mozanbique, Zambia and Zimbabwe in woodlands, dambos, open grasslands and in dry bush at elevations of 900 to 1800 meters as a small to large sized, warm to cool growing terrestrial with subterranean, asymmetrical, chain-forming tubers giving rise to 2 to 4, linear, fleshy leaves that blooms in the winter and early spring on an erect, purplish, laxly 6 to 20 flowered inflorescence with several bracts and linear, acuminate, purple floral bracts.
"In this species the spur is usually almost straight and often with a long narrow point, but sometimes it is even curved slightly downwards away from the pedicel. The keels on the labellum usually consist of three tall ones of which the central is the longest, with one or two lower ones on each side, making 5 or 7 in all. Although usually smooth and often quite narrow they may sometimes be rugulose and broader. The flowers are relatively large, the almost orbicular petals varying from .48 to .8" [12 to 20 mm] in length; sometimes the petals are appreciably longer than broad whereas in other specimens the breadth may be greater than the length. The sepals are always much shorter than the petals, usually about two-thirds of the petals in length; they are always markedly reflexed." Summerhayes 1958
Synonyms Eulophia bella N.E.Br. 1889; Eulophia milanjiana Kraenzl. 1900; Eulophia ochyrae Szlach. & Olszewski 2001; Lissochilus bellus (N.E.Br.) Schltr. 1914; Lissochilus kraenzlinii Rolfe 1897; Lissochilus milanjeanus Rendle 1894; Lissochilus monticola Rendle 1895; *Lissochilus orthoplectrus Rchb.f. 1878; Lissochilus pulcher Schltr. 1915; Lissochilus saccatus Rendle 1895
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Otia Botanica Hamburgensia Rchb.f 1878 as Lissochilus orthoplectrus;
Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as Lissochilus bellus;
Kew Bull. 13: 76 Summerhayes 1958
Kew Bull. 13: 76 Summerhayes 1958 as E rugulosa;
Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as E bela;
Orchids of East Africa Piers 1968;
AOS Bulletin Vol 38 No 1 1969 photo fide;
AOS Bulletin Vol 44 #4 1975;
The Orchids of South Central Africa Williamson 1977 drawing/photo ok;
Flora of Tropical East Africa Orchidaceae Part 3 Cribb 1989 drawing good;
Orchids of Kenya Stewart & Campbell 1996;
Flora Zambesiaca Vol 11 Orchidaceae Part 2 Pope 1998;
Orchid Digest Vol 64 #2 2000 photo fide;
Les Orchidees de Cote d'Ivorie Perez-Vera 2003 photo/drawing fide;
Field Guide to the Ethiopian Orchids Demissew, Cribb & Rasmussen 2004 photo/drawing ok;
Terrestrial African Orchids, A select Review John S. Ball 2009 drawing fide;
Genera Orchidacearum Vol 5 Epidendrodeae Part 2 Pridgeon, Cribb, Chase and Rasmussen 2009
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