Object Details
Description
This orchid has a huge range, covering nearly all of tropical Africa, from Nigeria to Kenya, and down to South Africa. It is also an extremely variable orchid, with most of the difference between plants being in their flower size, color, and density of spots. The spots on this orchid can be as small as pin pricks or as large as ink splotches, cover the entire flower so that it looks nearly brown, or be absent, leaving a pale yellow to green flower.
Despite the Leopard Orchid’s wide range, it is listed as Vulnerable and in need of protection. Both legal and illegal over-collecting threaten this plant and its habitat, with entire trees sometimes being cut down just for the plants growing on it. Logging and clearing forests for farmland and collecting older, larger orchids also threatens this species.
This specific clonal variety was bred for its size and the spots on its bloom.
Bloom Time (Northern Hemisphere)
November to August; peak in March to May
Ethnobotanical Uses
Zulu lore tells that wearing the pseudobulb of this orchid will prevent an ex-lover who rejected you from having children. In South Africa, this plant is also used as a charm to ward off lightning.
Medicinal / Pharmaceutical
Zulu herbalists in South Africa use the pseudobulb of this plant to make a tea used as an emetic. In northern Zimbabwe and Zambia the leaves and stems are made into a broth used to cure madness. The Pedi of Zimbabwe make an infusion out of this plant to suppress coughing for children. This plant is also used as a charm to fend off bad dreams in South Africa, and to treat asthma in Mozambique.
Parentage
Ansellia africana 'Primero' x Ansellia africana 'Joann Steele'
Provenance
From a cultivated plant not of known wild origin
Accession Number
2018-0547A
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Life Form
Epiphytic
Bloom Characteristics
Inflorescence is up to 31" long with 10-100 flowers. Flowers are extremely variable, but usually have a yellow or green background marked with maroon-brown spots. Flowers are 1-2.5" across.
Fragrance
Musky
Range
Tropical Africa; widespread
Habitat
Hot, dry open woodland in forks of trees; 0-2200m
See more items in
Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection
Common Name
Leopard Orchid clone
Group
[vascular plants]
Class
Equisetopsida
Subclass
Magnoliidae
Superorder
Lilianae
Order
Asparagales
Family
Orchidaceae
Subfamily
Epidendroideae
Genus
Ansellia
Species
africana
Data Source
Smithsonian Gardens
Topic
Orchids
Living Collections
Link to Original Record
Record ID
ofeo-sg_2018-0547A