密苞苹兰 mi bao ping lan

Basionym: Eria conferta S. C. Chen & Z. H. Tsi, Acta Bot. Yunnan. 6: 383. 1984.

Rhizome stout. Pseudobulbs tufted, straight or slightly curved, cylindric, with 3-5 nodes, ridged when dried, apex 3-leaved. Leaf blade oblong-oblanceolate or narrowly elliptic, 10-15 × 2.6-3 cm, papery, apex acuminate; petiole ca. 1 cm. Inflorescence arising from upper part of pseudobulb, ca. 5 cm, many flowered, glabrous; rachis with stripes; floral bracts sometimes turning black, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, usually 1.4-1.6 cm, margin ciliate. Flowers white, ca. 2 mm in diam., apex of lip yellow; pedicel and ovary 1.5-3 mm, slightly pubescent. Dorsal sepal ovate-elliptic, 3-3.5 × ca. 2 mm, glabrous, acute; lateral sepals obliquely ovate, 3-3.5 × ca. 2.5 mm, glabrous. Petals subovate, slightly shorter than sepals, glabrous; lip broadly ovate in outline, 0.5-3 mm, base with a claw 0.7-0.9 mm, 3-lobed; lateral lobes subovate, ca. 0.8 mm, obtuse; mid-lobe triangular-ovate, similar in size to lateral lobes, fleshy, obtuse; disk with 3 veins, sometimes slightly thickened at base. Column 1.5-2 mm, stout, ca. 1.5 mm wide; foot ca. 0.5 mm. Fl. Jul.

● Epiphytic on trees. SE Xizang.