e-Key v3 - Stenoglottis
SANBI Flora Keys Logo
Interactive keys to the identification of seed plants of southern Africa using keys based on plant morphology.

Orchidaceae - Orchidoideae - Orchideae - Stenoglottis Lindl.

Description :

  • Terrestrial, lithophytic or occasionally low-level epiphytic herbs, with many tuberous roots
  • Leaves radical, in rosette at base of stem, sometimes dark-spotted; frequently with crisped or undulate margins; glabrous
  • Inflorescence a terminal, lax or dense, many-flowered raceme, frequently subsecund; flowers pink or lilac, usually with purple markings; bracts small
  • Sepals subequal, unlobed; longer than petals
  • Petals slightly narrower than sepals, unlobed
  • Lip 3- or 5-lobed, unspurred or spurred, longer than sepals and petals
  • Gynostemium : very short and broad; anther thecae parallel, anther canals short or absent; pollinia 2, sectile, affixed by short caudicle to small oblong viscidia; stigmatic processes 2, clavate or capitate; rostellum 3-lobed, very short
  • Capsule oblong, erect
  • x = 18 (1 report)

Nomenclature:

  • Stenoglottis Lindl.
    • Lindley in Hooker: 209 (1836)
    • Rolfe: 115 (1912)
    • Phillips: 230 (1951)
    • Schelpe: 70 (1966)
    • Stewart et al.: 80 (1982)
    • Stewart: 11 (1989)
    • Linder & Kurzweil: 146 (1999)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species 4, widespread in the eastern half of southrn Africa, 1 species extends northwards as far as Tanzania
  • Southern Africa : Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape

References:

  • HOOKER, W.J. 1836. Companion to the Botanical Magazine 2
  • 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. 1989. The genus Stenoglottis . Kew Magazine 6
  • STEWART, J., LINDER, H.P., SCHELPE, E.A. & HALL, A.V. 1982. Wild orchids of southern Africa . Macmillan, Johannesburg