卡氏独蒜兰 ka shi du suan lan

Herbs, terrestrial. Pseudobulb green, ovoid or conic, slightly oblique, 1-2 × 1.5-1.8 cm, 2-leaved. Leaves developing at flowering, lanceolate, oblanceolate, or narrowly elliptic, 4-10 × 1-2 cm, papery, base attenuate into a petiole-like stalk enclosed in tubular sheaths, apex acute. Inflorescence erect; peduncle 10-13 cm, lacking sheaths; floral bract lanceolate, 18-22 mm, shorter than or almost as long as ovary, apex obtuse to acute. Flower solitary, rose-purple, tinged pale purplish blue, usually with a yellow center and dark purple spots on lip. Dorsal sepal elliptic-lanceolate, 30-32 × 7-9 mm, apex acuminate; lateral sepals obliquely elliptic, 28-30 × 8-10 mm, apex apiculate. Petals narrowly oblanceolate, 30-32 × ca. 7 mm, apex acute; lip broadly ovate, 20-25 × 25-30 mm, usually ca. as broad as long, obscurely 3-lobed, apical margin erose, apex subacute; disk with 5-9 rows of papillae extending from base of lip and grading into lacerate lamellae midway along mid-lobe; papillae 1-1.5 mm tall. Column ± arcuate, 18-20 mm; column wings very narrow below middle, dilated above, to 5 mm tall at apex, apex irregularly dentate. Capsule fusiform-oblong, 14-20 mm. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Oct.

● Rocky grasslands in coniferous forests, mossy rocks along streams, subalpine scrubby meadows. W Sichuan.

This species is very closely allied to Pleione scopulorum but differs in having a distinctive ovoid pseudobulb, smaller flowers with narrower, falcate petals, and a narrower lip with a subacute apex and a predominantly papillose rather than lamellate callus.