Huttonaea pulchra leaf

The couple of leaves grown by Huttonaea pulchra are spaced up the stem, sheathing it. Another sheath is found around the base of the stem.

The leaves are ovate to heart-shaped, tapering to acutely pointed tips. The pale, yellow-green and hairless leaf blade in picture has a few dull green major veins, smoothly curving along the surface from base to tip. Intricate filigree net-veining is conspicuous in the spaces between.

The slightly wavy leaf margins are entire. Leaf dimensions are 9 cm (sometimes up to 15 cm) long by about 7 cm wide; the lower leaf being the larger (Pooley, 1998; iSpot; www.africanorchids.dk).