Stems up to 1 m long, fusiform-pseudobulbous, leafy
Leaves distichous, plicate-veined
Inflorescences axillary panicles from apical nodes; flowers large, yellow or blotched with brown; bracts small
Sepals and petals similar
Lip 3-lobed; disc with 2 or 3 parallel keels
Gynostemium with prominent column-part and short column-foot; anther operculate and incumbent; pollinia 4 in 2 pairs, waxy; stigma in cavity below rostellum
Capsule ellipsoid, capped by persistent perianth-base
x = 21
Nomenclature:
Ansellia Lindl.
Lindley: t. 12 (1844)
Rolfe: 62 (1912)
Phillips: 241 (1951)
Schelpe: 32 (1966)
Harrison: 8 (1972)
Stewart et al.: 221 (1982)
Linder & Kurzweil: 404 (1999)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 1: Ansellia africana Lindl., variable, tropical Africa south to South Africa
Southern Africa: N Namibia, N Botswana, Northern Province, Swaziland and KwaZulu-Natal
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
LINDLEY, J. 1844. Ansellia africana. Botanical Register 30
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
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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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