Cyrtorchis
(pronounced: sir-TOR-kiss)
Classification
Vandeae subtribe Aerangidinae
Overview
Monopodial epiphytes and lithophytes. Roots coarse, produced toward the stem base. Stems elongate, branching from the base. Leaves alternate, distichous, linear to oblong-elliptic, obliquely bilobed at the apex, very leathery. Inflorescences axillary short-pedunculate arching racemes, the floral bracts conspicuous, persistent.
Flowers two-ranked, fragrant, starry, white becoming yellow with age. Sepals and petals subsimilar, subequal, lanceolate-ovate, acuminate, recurved. Lip unlobed, sessile, resembling the sepals and petals, with a long slender tapered spur. Column short, without wings or foot, with and elongate rostellum and long-beaked anther; pollinia 2, on separate stipes attached to a common viscidium, the viscidium often bipartite.
Etymology
From the Greek kyrtos, meaning curved, and orchis, meaning orchid, referring to the strongly incurved spur.
Distribution
A genus of 16 species in tropical Africa. Summerhayes divided the genus into two sections: section Cyrtorchis [Cyrtorchis section Heterocollection Summerhayes] for those species with a bipartite viscidium and section Homocollection Summerhayes for those s
Care and Culture Card
See basic growing conditions and care information below.
Grow plants of Cyrtorchis in baskets with medium to coarse-grade epiphyte mixtures. Plants of Cyrtorchis may be grown in pots but the copious aerial roots will degrade in a pot when the media begins to degrade. Provide warm temperatures, bright diffuse light, and regular watering throughout the year. Plants of Cyrtorchis are set back by root disturbance and should only be repotted when absolutely necessary.
Literature
Bock, I. 1999. Cyrtorchis chailluana (Hook.f.) Schltr. 1914. Die Orchidee 50(3): Orchideenkartei Seite 899-900. Harrison, E. R. 1972. A new variety of Cyrtorchis praetermissa from Zululand. J. S. African Bot. 38(4):299-300. Leroux, A. 1996. Cyrtorchis chailluana (Hook.f.) Schltr. L’Orchidoph. 120:37-38. Linder, H. P. 1989. Notes on southern African Angraecoid orchids. Kew Bull. 44:317-319. Onderstall, J. 1983. Cyrtorchis arcuata from Kenya. S. Afr. Orchid J. 14(2):39.
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