Disperis, Sw.

Croix, Isobyl la, Bosser, Jean & Cribb, Phillip J., 2002, The genus Disperis (Orchidaceae) in Madagascar, the Comores, the Mascarenes and the Seychelles, Adansonia (3) 24 (1), pp. 55-87 : 56

DISPERIS Sw.

Kongl. Vetensk. Acad. Nya Handl. 21: 218 (1800);

Schlechter, Bull. Herb. Boiss. 6: 911 (1898).

Dryorkis Thouars, Nouv. Bull. Sci. Soc. Philom. Paris 1: 316 (1809).

Dryopeia Thouars, Orch. Iles Afr. , 1 er tableau a, t. 1-3 (1822) [ Dryopria ]; A. Richard, Monog. Orch. Iles de France et Bourbon: 35 (1828), Extr. Mém. Soc. Hist. Nat. Paris 4.

Small, erect terrestrial, lithophytic or rarely epiphytic herbs with small tubers. Stems with 1 to several cataphylls at the base. Leaves 1 to few, opposite or alternate, sometimes with coloured veins, sometimes absent. Inflorescence racemose or one-flowered. Flowers small, white, yellow, green, pink, lilac or magenta purple.

Bracts leaf-like. Dorsal sepal forming with the petals an open or elongate hood, concave or spurred. Lateral sepals free or partly adnate, each with a sac-like spur in the middle or near the inner margin (spur lacking in a few species). Petals hyaline, entire, adnate to the dorsal sepal to form the hood. Lip usually hidden within the hood, often complex, the claw joined to the face of the column and rising above it, curving into the hood or spur, often dilated into a smooth or papillose limb and usually bearing an appendage which varies greatly in shape from species to species. Column complex; rostellum large, 2-lobed, produced in front into two rigid cartilaginous arms with viscidia at their apices; anther loculi distinct, parallel but often well separated; pollinia granules secund, in a double row along the edge of the flattened caudicles; staminodes present in some species; stigma bilobed, the lobes on the rostellum, on either side of the adnate claw of the lip. Capsules cylindrical or ovoid, ribbed, usually developing rapidly, sometimes before the flower has faded.

TYPE. — Disperis secunda (Thunb.) Sw. , nom. illeg. ( Arethusa secunda Thunb. , nom. illeg.) vide Phillips, Gen. S. Afr. Fl. Pl., ed. 2: 237 (1951).