无茎盆距兰 wu jing pen ju lan

Saccolabium obliquum Lindley, Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl. 223. 1833.

Stems 1-2 cm, stout, with 3-5 leaves. Leaves nearly basal, distichous; blade oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 8-20 × 1.7-6 cm, slightly fleshy or leathery, apex obtuse and unequally 2-lobed. Inflorescences 1-4, from base of stem, subumbellate, often 5-8-flowered; peduncle straight, 1-2 cm, stout, with 2 cupular sheaths; floral bracts broadly ovate, ca. 3 mm; pedicel and ovary 1-1.5 cm. Flowers fragrant, with yellow sepals and petals and white lip, all with brownish purplish spots. Sepals similar, subelliptic, 6-12 × 3.5-6 mm, base contracted, apex obtuse. Petals spatulate, smaller than sepals, apex obtuse; lip with an epichile and a saccate hypochile; epichile subtriangular, ca. 5 × 8-10 mm, adaxially glabrous, with a central cushion, margin lacerate or erose, apex obtuse and with a small wart abaxially; hypochile with yellow tip, with purplish red spots, nearly subglobose-cucullate, laterally compressed, 5-6 mm tall, 6-7 mm in diam., outside with 3 ridges. Column short. Fl. Oct.

On tree trunks at forest margins; 500-1400 m. SW Sichuan, S Yunnan [Bhutan, India (Andaman Islands, Sikkim), Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].

Chinese collections all belong to Gastrochilus obliquus var. obliquus; G. obliquus var. suavis (Seidenfaden) Z. H. Tsi, from NE India, differs from var. obliquus in having sepals and petals with dense bright red dots.