Didymoplexis stella-silvae Hermans 2021

This species was described very recently by Hermans (2021) from eastern Magascar, Fianarantsoa province in the Ranomafana National Park. It grows in an altitdude of roughly 1.000 m, in the humid evergreen rainforest in leaf litter and humus. The flowers are bright white resembling stars on the forest floor ("stella-silvae"). These flowers are about half the size of other Didymoplexis species of the region (D. avaratraensis and D. africana). D. verrucosa has a similar habit and flower colour, but has fewer flowers, the sepals and petals are connate (vs. fused to the middle), the lip is reniform (vs. transversely triangular) and it has hairs instead of warts on the lip. Therefore D. recurvata, described from northern Madagascar, is the closest relative species. Distinctive in D. stella-silvae is that the petals are narrower, the lip is larger and broader and D. recurvata also lacks the rows of long hairs on the disk and has a 3-lobed callus at the base (vs 2-lobed).