Orectanthe sceptrum
Content
Description
Stems short, caudiciform, erect, rarely over 20 cm. Leaves many in a strong basal rosette, their margins red-brown. Scapes usually solitary, then much longer than stem, rarely 2 or more; involucral bracts 3, all with flowers, broadly ovate to broadly lanciform, in latter case distinctly longer than the inner bracts.
Distribution
Guyana present, Southern America: Brazil North (Amazonas present, Roraima present); Venezuela (Venezuela present), contiguous Brazil present
Amazonas, Venezuela E to Guyana and S in contiguous Brazil, in boggy rocky open sites atop Roraima Sandstone, 500-2700 m.
Notes
A highly variable species as to size, leaf dimensions and bract cha- racter. The subspecies sceptrum and occidentalis (the former taller, with longer involucres and glaucous foliage, the latter lower with shorter bracts and not glaucous) intergrade and in the opinion of the writer cannot be distinguished even as varieties.