A new species of Rhipidoglossum (Orchidaceae, Angraecinae) from the Western Rift Valley (Africa) Author Macedo, Arthur 0000-0003-1238-493X Jardim Botânico da Universidade de Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, Coimbra, Portugal & Centre for Functional Ecology, Laboratório Associado TERRA, Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal & Herbarium et Bibliothèque de Botanique africaine, Université libre de Bruxelles, Campus de la Plaine, Brussels, Belgium Author Trovó, Marcelo 0000-0002-0478-2332 Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Cidade Universitária, RJ, Brazil Author Stévart, Tariq 0000-0002-6212-0361 Herbarium et Bibliothèque de Botanique africaine, Université libre de Bruxelles, Campus de la Plaine, Brussels, Belgium & Missouri Botanical Garden, Africa and Madagascar Department, St. Louis, MO, USA & Meise Botanic Garden, Meise, Belgium Author Farminhão, João 0000-0002-8811-9895 Jardim Botânico da Universidade de Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, Coimbra, Portugal & Centre for Functional Ecology, Laboratório Associado TERRA, Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal & Herbarium et Bibliothèque de Botanique africaine, Université libre de Bruxelles, Campus de la Plaine, Brussels, Belgium text Plant Ecology and Evolution 2025 2025-08-18 158 2 248 259 journal article 311792 10.5091/plecevo.155517 dc9e23fc-de20-4f18-8b4e-43cc3001300e

Table 1. Diagnostic traits of Rhipidoglossum fischerianum and the morphologically similar R. globulosocalcaratum and R. adoxum.

	R. fischerianum sp. nov.	R. globulosocalcaratum	R. adoxum
Maximum stem size	300 × 15–20 mm	125 × 15–20 mm	235 × 20–30 mm
Leaves	up to 46, linear-falcate, apex acute, dark green, 13–82 × 1–4.5 mm	up to 14, narrowly oblong, apex unequally bilobed, light green, 28–75 × 3–10 mm	up to 30, linear-falcate, apex unequally bilobed, dark green, 23–122 × 2.7–3.2 mm
Inflorescence	3–5 - flowered, up to 12 mm long	4–9 - flowered, up to 12 mm long	8–11 - flowered, up to 43 mm long
Flower colour	perianth white, anther cap lemon, column bright green	perianth white, anther cap pale yellow, column green	perianth green to tawny, anther cap pale yellow, column green to tawny
Dorsal sepal	widely elliptic to widely ovate, 3–3.1 × 2–2.2 mm	elliptic to widely elliptic, 2.5–2.6 × 1.7–1.8 mm	triangular to widely deltate, 1.5–1.7 × 0.7–0.8 mm
Lateral sepals	widely ovate, 3–3.3 × 1.5–1.7 mm	widely elliptic to subcircular, 2.1–2.2 × 1.7–1.8	triangular to widely deltate, 2.3–2.5 × 0.8–0.9 mm
Petals	widely elliptic, slightly concave, 2.3–2.5 × 1.7–1.8 mm	subcircular, concave, 1.9–2 × 1.7–1.8 mm	triangular to widely deltate, 2–2.1 × 1–1.2 mm
Lip	subcircular, markedly concave, bowl-shaped, spreading, apex shortly acuminate, 2.1–2.2 × 2.4–2.5 mm	transversally elliptic, convex, decurved, apex rounded, 1.7–1.8 × 2.7–2.8 mm	ovate, concave, decurved, apex acuminate, 2.1–2.3 × 1.7–1.9 mm
Spur	cupuliform, 1.4–2 × 0.8–1.1 mm	saccate, constricted at the base, 2–2.2 × 1.5–1.6 mm	cupuliform, 1–1.2 × 0.7–0.9 mm
Anther cap	pointed, with a small zenithal projection	rounded at the zenith	rounded at the zenith
Viscidia	oblong, extremities acute, enclosed onto the sides of the rostellum	elliptic, extremities rounded, enclosed onto the sides of the rostellum	subcircular, exposed laterally to the rostellum midlobe
Rostellum midlobe	nose-shaped, 0.7 × 0.7 mm	nose-shaped, 0.5 × 0.5 mm	oblong with subtriangular extremity, 0.3–0.4 × 0.1 mm