乐昌虾脊兰 le chang xia ji lan

Plants to ca. 40 cm tall. Rhizome inconspicuous. Pseudobulbs conic, small, ca. 1 cm in diam., often with 3 sheaths. Leaf solitary, not well developed at anthesis, not deciduous; blade broadly elliptic, 20-30 × 8-11 cm, glabrous, margin slightly undulate, apex acute; petiole-like base 14-32 cm, slender, usually involute and forming a pseudostem 9-20 cm. Scape arising from leaf axil, erect, to 35 cm, puberulent; rachis 3-4 cm, laxly 4- or 5-flowered; floral bracts persistent, ovate-lanceolate, 4-5 mm, membranous, glabrous, apex aristate. Flowers pale red; pedicel and ovary ca. 12 mm, densely puberulent. Dorsal sepal ovate-lanceolate, 17-18 × 6-7 mm, abaxially densely puberulent, 5-veined, apex acute; lateral sepals oblong, slightly oblique, 17-18 × 5-6 mm, abaxially densely puberulent, 5-veined, apex ± hooked and aristate. Petals oblong-lanceolate, 15-16 × 4.5-5 mm, abaxially puberulent, 3-veined; lip adnate to entire length of column wings, obovate-orbicular, base clawed, 3-lobed; lateral lobes tooth-shaped, very small, 1-3 × 0.8-1.2 mm, apex obtuse; mid-lobe broadly ovate-cuneate, ca. 10 × 10 mm, base clawed, margin slightly erose, apex emarginate and mucronate in sinus; disk with 3 lamellae; spur straight, cylindric, ca. 9 × 1.5 mm, outside and inside puberulent, apex obtuse. Column ca. 6 mm, dilated toward apex, glabrous, with triangular wings; rostellum 2-lobed; lobes ca. 1 mm; anther cap ca. 4 mm, beaked; pollinia clavate, subequal in size, ca. 2 mm; viscidium suboblong, ca. 0.8 mm. Fl. Mar-Apr.

● N Guangdong.