滇金石斛 dian jin shi hu

Rhizome creeping, 4-8 mm in diam., internodes 3-7 mm. Stems usually pendulous, yellow or yellowish brown, many branched. Pseudobulbs golden yellow, slightly compressed, fusiform, 3-8 cm × 7-20 mm. Leaf blade oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 9-19.5 × 1.5-3.6 cm, leathery, base contracted into a very short petiole, apex obtuse and minutely retuse, arista in sinus absent or indistinct. Inflorescence simultaneously adaxial and abaxial, 1- or 2-flowered; peduncle very short, with several scalelike sheaths. Flowers lasting half a day, thinly textured; pedicel and ovary pale yellow, sepals and petals white, mentum yellowish, lip and column densely spotted purple-red, mid-lobe white, turning pale cream-colored when old, proximal part of keels deep purple, distal wavy part with deep purple edges and spots; pedicel and ovary ca. 5 mm. Dorsal sepal oblong, ca. 10 × 3.5 mm, acute; lateral sepals obliquely ovate-lanceolate, ca. 10 × 3.5 mm, base oblique and relatively wide, apex acute; mentum perpendicular to ovary, ca. 5 mm, obtuse. Petals narrowly oblong, ca. 9 × 2.2 mm, acute; lip ca. 12 mm, 3-lobed; lateral lobes erect, subovate, rounded, ca. 7 mm apart between apices; mid-lobe obovate-flabellate in outline, ca. 5 × 7 mm, 2-lobed, basal margin lacerate-crisped; disk with 2 lamellae extending from base to narrowed base of mid-lobe, crisped-undulate in apical half. Column ca. 3 mm, stout, foot ca. 5 mm. Fl. Jun-Jul.

Epiphytic on tree trunks in open forests, lithophytic on rocks in forests; 800-1200 m. S Yunnan [Laos, Thailand, Vietnam].