细小叉柱兰 xi xiao cha zhu lan

Plants 4-6 cm tall. Rhizome elongate, creeping, moniliform, ca. 0.2 cm in diam. Stem erect, terete, 1.5-3 cm, 3-6-leaved. Leaves scattered along stem, green, ovate, 0.4-0.7 × 0.2-0.4 cm, glabrous, base truncate-rounded, apex acute; petiole-like base and sheath 0.2-0.4 cm. Inflorescence 1-2.5 cm, glabrous to very sparsely pubescent, with 1 or 2 sterile bracts; rachis to 0.4 cm, 1- or 2-flowered; floral bracts ovate, ca. 3 mm, shorter than ovary, apex acuminate. Flowers white, small, suberect; ovary cylindric-fusiform, 3-4.5 mm including pedicel, glabrous. Sepals 2.5-3 mm, connate for ca. 1/2 of length and forming a tube; free apical lobes ca. 1.2 mm, apex acute. Petals appressed to dorsal sepal, spatulate, slightly oblique, ca. 3 mm, 1-veined, apex obtuse; lip 4-6 mm, 3-partite; hypochile shallowly saccate, containing 2 bifid calli; mesochile ca. 1.5 mm, adaxially with glandular hairs; epichile ca. 2.5 × 3.5-4 mm, 2-lobed; lobes flabellate, ca. 2 mm, apex truncate and with irregular shallow notches. Column ca. 1.5 mm; stelidia linear; anther ovoid; rostellum arms ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. Oct.

Shaded forests; ca. 1300 m. S Yunnan (Menghai) [NE India, Malaysia, Thailand].