Bonatea steudneri (Rchb. fil.) T. Durand & Schinz

steudneri: after Dr. Hermann Steudner (1832-1863), German physician, botanist, explorer, and plant collector who worked in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Robust terrestrial, up to c. 110 cm tall, growing from hairy, thick and fleshy, tuberous roots. Leaves along the stem, not overlapping, ovate, up to 12.5 × 4.5 cm, base clasping the stem. Inflorescence fairly laxly, up to 30-flowered. Bracts membranous, ovate, c. 4 cm long. Flowers green, white in the centre. Dorsal sepal erect, ovate, c. 23 × 25 mm, forming a hood. Lateral sepals deflexed, broadly lanceolate, c.25 mm long. Petals 2-lobed almost to the base; upper lobe 21-24 mm long, linear, adnate to the dorsal sepal; lower lobe 50-70 mm long, linear-filiform, first adnate to the lip, then curving down and outwards. Lip 3-lobed in the apical part; mid-lobe linear, 20-37 mm long, decurved; side lobes narrowly linear, spreading, 25-85 mm long. Spur 10-21 cm long, pendent, slightly swollen at the apex.

Locally frequent

DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Caprivi-Namibia. Also in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.