吉氏贝母兰 ji shi bei mu lan

Rhizome creeping, ca. 3 mm in diam. Pseudobulbs 2-3 cm apart along rhizomes, conic to ovoid, 3-5 × 2-3 cm, when young covered with sheaths. Leaves 2 per pseudobulb, terminal, convolute, oblong, 14-16 × 4-5 cm, leathery, with 5-7 main veins. Inflorescence hysteranthous, to 50 cm, with imbricate, convolute, sheathing sterile bracts at interface between peduncle and rachis; rachis 7-10-flowered; flowers open simultaneously; floral bracts caducous, lanceolate, ca. 2 cm; pedicel and ovary ca. 15 mm; rachis continuing to develop and producing a further set of sterile bracts at interface between peduncle and rachis and flowers annually. Flowers fully open, red with partly black tip on mid-lobe. Dorsal sepal narrowly ovate, ca. 14 × 7 mm, 9-veined, apex acuminate; lateral sepals elliptic, ca. 14 × 6 mm, 5-veined, acuminate. Petals linear, ca. 14 × 3 mm, 3-veined, acuminate; lip attached to column, white, ca. 15 × 9 mm, 3-lobed, without lamellae; lateral lobes erect, suborbicular, entire, edges slightly reflexed outward; claw to mid-lobe ca. 2 × 2 mm; mid-lobe black, rotund, ca. 3 × 6 mm, entire. Column red, ca. 8 mm, winged; pollinia 4, suborbicular. Capsule ca. 2 × 0.8 cm. Fl. Mar.

● On tree trunks in subtropical evergreen forests; ca. 2600 m. W Yunnan.