Common Name:

General Information

Eulophia speciosa is a perennial plant producing 3 - 6 leaves 15 - 65cm long on a central flowering stem up to 150cm tall. The stem grows out of an underground pseudobulb[].
The bulbs are a favoured food of local people within the plants native range, and are extensively harvested from the wild for local use. The plant is often cultivated as an ornamental, especially by Orchid growers.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Africa - Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Zambi, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, S. Afri

Habitat

Grassland and wooded grassland with shrubs, miombo and mixed deciduous woodland, usually on sandy soils, also in brackish swampy coastal grassland, at elevations up to 1,700 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Habit	Bulb
Height	1.00 m
Pollinators	Bees
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Succeeds in full sun or in light shade[]. Usually found in sandy soils in the wild, though it is also recorded in clays and can also grow in brackish soils[, ].
Plants must be kept fairly dry during the dormant season[].

Edible Uses

Bulb - raw or cooked[]. Often eaten raw, sometimes with a little salt, as soon as it is harvested, the bulb is also mashed up and mixed with other raw food plants such as Talinum spp., Dipcadi glaucum and Kedrostis foetidissima. The pounded roots are also added to soups and sauces[]. The irregularly conical bulbs are 4 - 6 long and up to 4cm wide[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - propagation from seeds in possible, but since orchid seed germination can usually only take place on the surface of a sterile medium in flasks, this form of propagation requires considerable expertise and preferably access to a modern propagation lab. The development of the protocorms ('seedlings') is very slow in Eulophia and takes about 6 - 12 months[]. Plants flower about 2 - 4 years after sowing[].
Division of the bulbs during the dormant season[]. Since the plants are to some degree dependent on their mycorrhiza, the substrate should also contain a small quantity of the soil the plants were growing in before[].

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