Stenoglottis fimbriata flowers

The small flowers of Stenoglottis fimbriata (15 mm in diameter), grow in an erect, lax inflorescence. There are from 5 to 70 of them in the flower spike that is usually secund, i.e. it favours one side of the axis or stem. Flower colour is usually lilac-pink with darker spots on the segments, only sometimes white as those in the photo.

The floral bracts are small and green with narrowly pointed tips. The petals are slightly narrower than the sepals and shorter, both lateral sepals and petals oblique in outline. Sepals and petals are unlobed, while the lip has three lobes, but no spur. The column is short, broad and rounded.

The generic name is derived from the Greek words stenos meaning narrow and glotta meaning tongue, referring to the narrow lip lobes.

The blooms arrive by midsummer until mid-autumn (Pooley, 1998; Germishuizen and Fabian, 1982).