| Biologie : |
Monopodial herbs with stems covered by sheathing leaf-bases; leaves cauline, distichous, articulated at base to a sheathing leaf-base; trichomes multicellular, glandular; inflorescences axillary, emerging through the leaf-sheaths opposite leaves; flowers small, star-like, “among the least showy of the African epiphytic orchids” (Stewart & Campbell, Orchids Kenya: 82, 1996); sepals and petals free, subsimilar, spreading; “the lip is the most conspicuous part of the flowers”, often 3-lobed and auriculate at base, auricles present on each side at spur opening. |
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| Ecologie : |
Genus of mostly epiphytic species in tropical and southern temperate Africa (map in Pridgeon & al., Gen. orchid. 6: 447, 2014). As an aid to identification Stewart & al. (Angraecoid orchids: 385, 2006) arrange the species in 3 groups according to the length of the inflorescence and the number of flowers it bears, viz.: - group 1, short infloresences (< 1 cm) with few flowers; lip mostly entire; - group 2, short to medium-sized inflorescences(1-4 cm) with 3- >8 flowers; - group 3, long inflorescences (4-20 cm) with 6 or more flowers. Occasionally cultivated. However, plants grow easily in cultivation. |
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