Seychelles Oeceoclades Orchid (Oeceoclades seychellarum)

This species was a terrestrial or epiphytic (depending on which source) orchid, that was restricted to the island of Mahé, Seychelles Islands.

The Seychelles Oeceoclades Orchid is said to have been very similar in vegetative morphology to the closely related Malagasy Lanceated Oeceoclades Orchid (Oeceoclades lanceata (H. Perrier) Garay & P. Taylor), from which it differed, however, in some floral characteristics, especially by its proportionally shorter lip.

The species is known exclusively from the type specimen that was collected in 1902 in a region that was covered with intact mountain forest at that time, but that now is degraded by human activity and overgrown with introduced invasive plant species. 

The Seychelles Oeceoclades Orchid is thus considered extinct.

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The species was once cultivated in the Botanical Garden of Kew, Great Britain at the beginning of the 20th century, but seems to have disappeared from there as well.

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References:

[1] Justin Gerlach: Red Listing reveals the true state of biodiversity: a comprehensive assessment of Seychelles biodiversity. Phesluma 20: 9-22. 2012

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edited: 26.11.2018