Epiphytic monopodial herbs with short or elongate leafy stems, without pseudobulbs
Leaves distichous, ligulate, flat to weakly keeled, unequally bilobed at apex
Inflorescences few- to many-flowered racemes; flowers often translucent, white to yellow-green or beige; bracts usually amplexicaul, rarely prominent
Sepals and petals free, subsimilar
Lip entire or obscurely lobed, with curved spur, often with tooth-like callus at its mouth
Gynostemium short and broad, with or without column-foot; anther operculate; pollinia 2; stipes separate, viscidia 1 or 2; rostellum elongate, tapering or clavate
x = 25 (polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Diaphananthe Schltr.
Schlechter: 593 (1914)
Schlechter: 95 (1918)
Summerhayes: 140 (1960)
Schelpe: 46 (1966)
Harrison: 41 (1972)
Stewart et al.: 261 (1982)
Linder & Kurzweil: 434 (1999)
Rhipidoglossum Schltr.
Schlechter: 80 (1918)
Mystacidium Lindl. in part
Rolfe: 76 (1912)
Phillips: 243 (1951)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species ± 50, tropical and subtropical Africa
Southern Africa: Species 4, south to 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
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
SCHLECHTER, R. 1914, 1915. Die Orchideen. Paul Parey, Berlin
SCHLECHTER, R. 1918. Versuch einer natürlichen Anordnung der afrikanischen Angraekoiden Orchidaceen. Beihefte zum Botanischen Centralblatt 36: 80, 95
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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.
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