Eulophia obstipa Cribb & la Croix

Eulophia obstipa Cribb & la Croix in la Croix & Cribb (1998: 534) (Fig. 2) This species was only described in 1998 in Flora Zambesiaca based on Faulkner 436 collected in September 1940 at Alto Catumbela. The holotype specimen is at K with an isotype preserved at PRE. Helen Faulkner illustrated the species as painting number 9 in notebook 1. She re-painted it separately on good quality paper, which she did for a number of drawings, and presented the illustration to Kew in 1948. Until recently only one specimen, Richards 20554, collected in Tanzania (Mpanda, Ufipa, T4) in October 1968 by Mary Richards could be attributed to this species, besides the type gathering. A third gathering, Cruse 32 from Mufulira in Zambia, mentioned in Flora Zambesiaca is probably this species, but could not be assigned to it with certainty according to la Croix & Cribb (1998). It thus seems that this is a rare species despite the note from Faulkner in her notebook saying “An orchid common in burnt off ground in the forest”. It may be more common than the few specimens would indicate as my colleague, Nicholas Wightman, and I have found it in Lusaka East Forest Reserve and near Palabana in Lusaka Province, Zambia, and Caroline Conradie also saw it near Mbala in the Northern Province of Zambia. However, it is incredibly difficult to spot on burnt ground in miombo forest as the inflorescence is narrow and inconspicuous, the flowers are small, the leaves are vestigial and it flowers before the rains set in when few botanists look for plants.