Liparis bowkeri leaves

Liparis bowkeri grows two to four stalked leaves that sheathe at the base, the stalks up to 7 cm long. The leaves are soft, thinly textured and pale to deep green in colour. Leaf shape is lanceolate to ovate, attenuating to acutely pointed tips. A few conspicuous longitudinal veins curve gently from base to tip, sunken on the upper surface and giving the leaf a ribbed appearance. Leaves become 6 cm to 7 cm long.

The plant grows soft, fleshy green pseudobulbs, conical in shape. They become from 2 cm to 7 cm in diameter, in closely packed groups on the ground. The species resembles L. remota that grows extended rhizomes between its spaced pseudobulbs.

Only four of the about 250 Liparis species on earth (tropical and temperate regions, especially in Asia), occur in South Africa.

L. bowkeri is used as a good luck and love charm in traditional cultures (Pooley, 1998; Onderstall, 1984; www.africanorchids.dk).