Catopsis sessiliflora
Content
Description
Plant flowering from ca. 13 cm, up to 40 cm long, with a 8-25 cm tallfunnelform- or subtubular-rosette of a few to about 10lustrous-green leaves. Leaves thin, with large but indistinct sheaths, ovate- or linear-lanceolate, 15-25 x 3-4.5 cm, often much exceeded by the scape, broadly rounded and apiculate, sparsely or subdensely punctulate-lepidote throughout, grass-green, often not at all cretaceous, the outer ones mostly strongly reduced, sheath-like and acutish. Inflorescence simple or laxly bipinnate of 2-6 polystichously arranged spikes, glabrous; scape mostly erect or slightly curved, 16-25 cm long, ca. 2 mm in diam., partly exposed; scape bracts erect, remote, sometimes loosely sheathing, chartaceous, (broadly) ovate, rounded and apiculate, about half as long as the internodes or less; axis elongate, straight or nearly so, subterete; primary bracts as the upper scape bracts, suberect or spreading with the spikes, much exceeded by the peduncle of the spikes; peduncle 1.8-2 cm long, angled, naked; spikes elongate, 2-8 cm long, 0.9-1.3 cm in diam. at anthesis, laxly and polystichously 3-18-flowered, with a few densely imbricate reduced sterile bracts at the apex; rachis exposed, straight or curved, angled; floral bracts clasping the flowers, thin, with veined surface when dry, broadly ovate 0.5-0.7 cm long, about as long as the internodes, much exceeded by the sepals, broadly acute or obtuse, ecarinate, only minutely brown-lepidote inside. Flowers suberect or spreading, remote, sessile; sepals thin, with veined surface when dry, asymmetrically obovate, 0.6-0.8 cm long, apically with an extended membranaceous margin at one side, emarginate and obscurely apiculate, free, ecarinate, only minutely brown-lepidote inside; petals elliptic with minute whitish blade, obtuse, slightly (if at all) exceeding the sepals, white; stamens deeply included, the longest three just exceeding the pistil, the other ones shorter, filaments straight, flat, dilated above the ovary and subterete, anthers basifixed, sagittate, less than 1 mm long, obtuse; ovary ellipsoid, 2.5-3.5 mm long, style very short (1 mm), stigmas hook-shaped. Capsule ovoid, ca. 1.2 cm long, rounded and short-beaked, coma gold-brown.