Terrestrial or rarely epiphytic herbs, with long fibrous roots
Stems
pseudobulbous, leafy, small and obscured
Leaves
2-several, petiolate, plicate, very thin, limb elliptic to oblong-lanceolate
Inflorescence
a lateral raceme; scape erect, with several sheathing bracts towards base, ± pubescent; flowers often large, in our species white to pink; bracts lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate
Sepals
subequal, free, usually widely spreading
Petals
similar to sepals
Lip
fused to gynostemium, spurred, 3-lobed, disc variously crested or lamellate
Gynostemium
short; anther operculate, incumbent; pollinia 8, rather soft, clavate, viscidium elliptic or lanceolate; rostellum bifid
Capsule
elliptic-oblong
x = 10 (aneuploids, high polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Calanthe
R.Br.
Brown: t. 573 (1821)
Rolfe: 11 (1912)
Phillips: 241 (1951)
Schelpe: 24 (1966)
Stewart et al.: 215 (1982)
Linder & Kurzweil: 405 (1999)
Distribution & Notes:
Global
: Species ± 200, widespread in Asia, Australasia and Madagascar, 1 each in Africa and Central America
Southern Africa
: Species 1:
Calanthe sylvatica
(Thouars) Lindl., in eastern parts, Northern Province to Knysna (Western Cape)
References:
BROWN, R. 1821.
Calanthe
.
Botanical Register
7
LINDER, H.P. & KURZWEIL, H. 1999.
Orchids of southern Africa
. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam
PHILLIPS, E.P. 1951. The genera of South African flowering plants.
Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa
No. 25
ROLFE, R.A. 1912. Order CXXXI.
Orchideae
.
Flora capensis
5,3
SCHELPE, E.A. 1966.
An introduction to the South African Orchids
. Purnell & Sons, Cape Town, Johannesburg
STEWART, J., LINDER, H.P., SCHELPE, E.A. & HALL, A.V. 1982.
Wild orchids of southern Africa
. Macmillan, Johannesburg
Copyright of the content hosted by this website remains with the
South African National Biodiversity Institute
(SANBI), unless stated otherwise.
Material from this site may be used in other media, provided that SANBI is acknowledged by the name
South African National Biodiversity Institute
(SANBI) or refer to the '
How to cite this resource
' paragraph on the Home page.
Liability disclaimer: Visitors use this site at their own risk and SANBI is not liable for any of the consequences resulting therefrom.
Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
