小片菱兰 xiao pian ling lan

Hetaeria abbreviata Lindley, Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl. 481. 1840; Anoectochilus abbreviatus (Lindley) Seidenfaden; Hetaeria abbreviata (Lindley) J. J. Smith; Odontochilus abbreviatus (Lindley) Tang & F. T. Wang; Zeuxine abbreviata (Lindley) J. D. Hooker.

Plants 15-30 cm tall. Stem dark green, 4-5 cm, 3-5-leaved. Leaves abaxially pale green, sometimes tinged with red, adaxially dark green, ovate-lanceolate, 4-8 × 2-3 cm, apex acute to acuminate; petiole-like base and tubular sheath 1-2 cm. Peduncle 8-10 cm, with 2 or 3 sterile bracts; rachis 3-7 cm, laxly 8-12-flowered; floral bracts pinkish red, ovate, 7-10 × ca. 2.5 mm, shorter than to equal to ovary, margin ciliate, apex acuminate. Flowers half opening, obliquely resupinate, small; ovary and pedicel 9-11 mm, glabrous. Sepals greenish white, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, 1-veined; dorsal sepal broadly ovate, 2.5-3.5 × 1.5-2 mm, apex acute; lateral sepals spreading, ovate, slightly oblique, ca. 4 × 2.2 mm, apex acute. Petals white, ovate-lanceolate, oblique, sides unequal, 2.5-3.5 × 1.2-1.4 mm, glabrous, 1-veined, apex abruptly narrowed into a short apiculus; lip white, broadly ovate, cymbiform, 3-3.5 mm, obscurely 3-partite; hypochile concave-saccate, ca. 2.5 × 2-2.2 mm, containing 2 oblong-ellipsoid calli near base; carina low, forming a 2-laminate callus toward apex of hypochile; mesochile short and often indistinct, ca. 0.5 mm, margin involute; epichile obtriangular, ca. 1.2 × 0.8 mm, margin involute, apex truncate with acute corners and sometimes a small apiculate extension at center. Column ca. 2 mm. Fl. Aug-Sep.

Forests, valleys; 600-1200 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan [NE India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand].

Plants of this species from Hong Kong were misidentified in Gen. Orchidaceae Hong Kong (49. 1977) and FRPS (17: 183-185. 1999) as Hetaeria cristata Blume (Rhomboda cristata (Blume) Ormerod). See also the comment under R. tokioi above.