Calanthe sylvatica

"Calanthe sylvatica (Thouars) Lindl. is a species of orchid. It is native to tropical and southern Africa from Sierra Leone to Tanzania to South Africa, as well as Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Réunion"

Calanthe sylvatica (Thouars) Lindl., Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl. 250 (1833).

Calanthe sylvatica (Thouars) Lindl., Photo by Natiora Hanitriniala Madagascar

its native range is Tropical & S. Africa, W. Indian Ocean.

Latin Name: 

Calanthe sylvatica (Thouars) Lindl.

Family: 

Orchidaceae Juss.

Synonym:

Bletia sylvatica (Thouars) Bojer

Calanthe candida Bosser

Calanthe corymbosa (Thouars) Lindl.

Calanthe delphinioides Kraenzl.

Calanthe humbertii H.Perrier

Calanthe natalensis (Rchb.f.) Rchb.f.

Calanthe neglecta Schltr.

Calanthe sanderiana B.S.Williams

Calanthe sanderiana Rolfe

Calanthe schliebenii Mansf.

Calanthe stolzii Schltr.

Calanthe sylvatica var. geerinckiana Stévart

Calanthe sylvestris Lindl. ex Steud.

Calanthe volkensii Rolfe

Centrosia aubertii A.Rich.

Centrosis corymbosa Thouars

Centrosis plantaginea Thouars

Centrosis sylvatica Thouars

English Name:

The Forest-Dwelling Calanthe.

Chinese name:

Chang Ju Xia Ji Lan - 长距虾脊兰 

Description: 

With small, 2 to 4 noded, ovoid pseudobulbs enveloped by basal leaf sheaths and carrying several, broad, elliptic-lanceolate, plicate, longitudinally ribbed, dark green, sulcate, softly pubescent, acuminate, gradually narrowing below into the petiolate base leaves that are narrowed below into a petiole that blooms in the spring and summer on an erect, successively opening, 50 to 70 cm long, racemose, slightly pubescent, few to many flowered inflorescence.

Distribution:

Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Comoros, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Réunion, Sierra Leone, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe, Vietnam and southeastern China.

Ecological:

Aelevations of 400 to 2700 m in broadleafed, evergreen, humid primary forests in soils dampened by mists and splash along steep watercourses in humus and deep shade, as a medium sized, cool to hot growing terrestrial.

Flowering times:

Bloome in the spring and summer.

Flower size:

5.0 cm

Cultivation:

Though the number of species belonging to this genus is more than 180, only a handful are in cultivation. Calanthe sylavatica is one of them. Calanthe culture is divided into two groups: deciduous and evergreen plants. The first normally have huge pseudobulbs, the evergreen plants have smaller pseudobulbs or completely lack them in some species. Calanthe sylvatica falls into the category of evergreen plants, those that require semi-shaded humus-rich soils on the slopes of woodlands.

Typus:

Preuss, P.R. [1061], Cameroon K000106775 Unknown type material

Stolz, A. [3], Malawi Calanthe stolzii K000242422 Unknown type material

Reference: 

- theplantlist.org

- https://www.ipni.org/n/621060-1

- http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:621060-1

-  http://www.orchidspecies.com/aerstylosa.htm.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calanthe_sylvatica

- http://www.orchidspecies.com/calsylvatica.htm. 

- http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=242412439

- http://www.toskar.org/calanthe-sylvatica/