Epiphytic monopodial herbs, with short or elongate leafy stems, without pseudobulbs
Leaves
distichous, ligulate to oblanceolate, flat, usually unequally bilobed at apex
Inflorescences
lateral, short or long racemes, rarely branched, mainly pendulous; flowers usually white
Sepals
and petals ± lanceolate-oblong, spreading, free
Lip
elliptic to lanceolate-oblong, with long spur
Gynostemium
short and broad; anther operculate, anther cap sometimes beaked; pollinia 2, attached by single stipe to single enlarged viscidium; rostellum entire, elongated
Capsule
cylindrical or ellipsoid, often much enlarged
x = 25 (aneuploids, high polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Aerangis
Rchb.f.
Reichenbach: 190 (1865)
Rolfe: 68 (1912) under
Angraecum
Schelpe: 44 (1966)
Harrison: 47 (1972)
Stewart: 239 (1979)
Stewart et al.: 262 (1982)
Linder & Kurzweil: 427 (1999)
Distribution & Notes:
Global
: Species ± 50, Africa and Mascarene Islands
Southern Africa
: Species 3 (possibly 5), Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal, and Eastern Cape
References:
HARRISON, E.R. 1972.
Epiphytic orchids of southern Africa
. Natal Branch of the Wildlife Society of Southern Africa
LINDER, H.P. & KURZWEIL, H. 1999.
Orchids of southern Africa
. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam
REICHENBACH, H.G. 1865. Dr. Welwitsch's Orchideen aus Angola.
Flora
48
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. 1979. A revision of the African species of
Aerangis
(
Orchidaceae
).
Kew Bulletin
34
STEWART, J., LINDER, H.P., SCHELPE, E.A. & HALL, A.V. 1982.
Wild orchids of southern Africa
. Macmillan, Johannesburg
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