''Aeranthes'', abbreviated Aerth in the horticultural trade,http://www.rhs.org.uk/RHSWebsite/files/87/87be8b1e-908e-4e04-9ee6-30c438354458.pdf is an

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

with 47 species, mostly from shady, tropical humid forests in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

and islands in the Western

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> The name "aeranthes" means 'aerial flower', because it grows high in the air.

Description

''Aeranthes'' has a single short, erect,

monopodial Vascular plants with monopodial growth habits grow upward from a single point. They add leaves to the apex each year and the stem grows longer accordingly. The word ''Monopodial'' is derived from Greek "mono-", ''one'' and "podial", "foot", in refe ...

stem. The leathery, shining,

opposite leaves In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature. Leaf arrangement The basic arrangements of leaves on a stem are opposite and alterna ...

are arranged in two rows of five to seven leaves, with a length of 15–25 cm. New leaves are formed at the top of the stem in a

growth pattern. The threadlike

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

stalk grows downward to a length of almost 30 cm. It carries one or two almost translucent, greenish yellow flowers. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s and the shorter petals taper off into five long, narrow shoots. Some give an agreeable, sweet scent in the evening or early morning.

References

External links

* * Orchids of Africa Vandeae genera Flora of Madagascar Flora of the Comoros Orchids of Mauritius Flora of Réunion Flora of Zimbabwe {{Vandeae-stub