剑叶石斛 jian ye shi hu

Aporum banaense (Gagnepain) Rauschert; A. spatella (H. G. Reichenbach) M. A. Clements; Callista spatella (H. G. Reichenbach) Kuntze; Dendrobium acinaciforme Roxburgh var. minus Tang & F. T. Wang; D. banaense Gagnepain.

Stems erect, compressed trilateral, to 60 cm, ca. 4 mm in diam., base contracted, becoming slender distally, unbranched, with many nodes, internodes ca. 1 cm. Leaves distichous, ascending, slightly sparsely overlapping or alternate, laterally compressed and dagger-shaped, 2.5-4 × 0.4-0.6(or more) cm, thickly leathery or fleshy, base dilated into sheaths tightly embracing stem, grading into sheaths distally, apex acute. Inflorescences lateral along leafless pseudoraceme; floral bracts ca. 1 mm. Pedicel and ovary ca. 6 mm. Flowers very small, white, lip tinged with red. Dorsal sepal subovate, 3-5 × 1.6-2(or more) mm, 3-veined, obtuse; lateral sepals obliquely ovate-triangular, 3.5-6 mm, 5-veined, base very oblique, margin close to column, apex acute; mentum 5-7 mm, narrow. Petals oblong, ca. as long as dorsal sepal, but narrower, bluntly rounded; lip adnate to column foot at apex, subspatulate, 8-10 × 4-6(or more) mm, front margin with bluntly rounded teeth, rounded; disk with 3-5 central ridged projections. Column very short; anther cap slightly toothed along apical margin. Capsule elliptic, 4-7 mm.

Epiphytic on tree trunks at forest margins, lithophytic on rocks in forests; 200-300 m. S Fujian (Nanjing), SW Guangxi (Daxin), Hainan (Baoting, Ledong, Sanya), Hong Kong, S Yunnan [Bhutan, Cambodia, NE India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].

This species has been misidentified as Dendrobium acinaciforme Roxburgh (e.g., in FRPS 19: 142. 1999), which is in fact a native of Ambon Island in Maluku, Indonesia.