黄花鹤顶兰 huang hua he ding lan

Limodorum flavum Blume, Bijdr. 375. 1825; Bletia flava (Blume) Wallich ex Lindley; B. woodfordii Hooker; Phaius maculatus Lindley; P. minor Blume; P. somae Hayata; P. tancarvilleae (L’Héritier) Blume f. veronicae S. Y. Hu & Barretto; P. undulatomarginatus Hayata; P. woodfordii (Hooker) Merrill.

Plants 40-100 cm tall. Pseudobulb ovoid-conic, 5-10 × 1.5-4 cm. Leaves 4-8, on upper part of pseudobulb; blade normally green with yellow or white spots, ovate-elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, 25-60 × 5-20 cm, glabrous, apex acuminate or acute. Inflorescences arising from basal or lower nodes of pseudobulb, normally not exceeding height of leaves, 50-90 cm, 8-25-flowered, glabrous; floral bracts persistent, ovate-lanceolate, 2.5-4 × 0.5-0.7 cm, glabrous. Flowers not widely opening, 4-7 cm in diam.; pedicel and ovary 2-3 cm, glabrous; sepals and petals pale yellow to mid-yellow, sepals often green tipped, often turning indigo-blue when dried. Sepals subsimilar, oblong-obovate, 2.5-4 × 0.7-1.5 cm, glabrous, apex obtuse to subacute. Petals oblong-elliptic, 2.5-4 × 0.7-1.5 cm, apex obtuse-subacute; lip yellow with orange or brown marks, apical margin brown, obovate, 2.5-4.5 × 2.2-4.5 cm, shallowly 3-lobed; lateral lobes subobovate, margin undulate, apex rounded-truncate; mid-lobe orbicular, undulate-crisped, apex emarginate; disk with 3 or 4 brown ridges, glabrous; spur slightly curved, white, conic, 0.5-0.8 × ca. 0.2 cm, apex obtuse. Column white, 1.5-2 cm, densely white pubescent ventrally; rostellum suborbicular; anther cap white. Fl. Apr-Oct. 2n = 38, 42.

Shaded and humid places in forests; 300-2000 m. N Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, N Hunan, Sichuan, Taiwan, SE Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].

Plocoglottis sp. was reported by R. A. Rolfe to be found on Emei Shan in SC Sichuan based on a specimen collected by Faber (No. 947). Plocoglottis Blume is a genus similar in habit to Phaius, particularly P. flavus. We have collected orchids several times on Emei Shan and have found P. flavus but not Plocoglottis. It seems that the Plocoglottis species on Emei Shan may be a misidentification of this species.