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Chinese Plant Names | Family List | Orchidaceae | Cymbidium

Cymbidium ensifolium (Linn.) Sw.

建兰

Description from Flora of China

Epidendrum ensifolium Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 954. 1753; Cymbidium arrogans Hayata; C. ensifolium f. arcuatum T. K. Yen; C. ensifolium f. falcatum T. K. Yen; C. ensifolium var. misericors (Hayata) T. P. Lin; C. ensifolium var. rubrigemmum (Hayata) T. S. Liu & H. J. Su; C. ensifolium var. striatum Lindley; C. ensifolium var. susin T. K. Yen; C. ensifolium var. xiphiifolium (Lindley) S. S. Ying; C. ensifolium var. yakibaran (Makino) Y. S. Wu & S. C. Chen; C. gyokuchin Makino var. arrogans (Hayata) S. S. Ying; C. kanran Makino var. misericors (Hayata) S. S. Ying; C. micans Schauer; C. misericors Hayata; C. prompovenium Z. J. Liu & J. N. Zhang; C. rubrigemmum Hayata; C. xiphiifolium Lindley; C. yakibaran Makino; C. yongfuense Z. J. Liu & J. N. Zhang; Jensoa ensata (Thunberg) Rafinesque; Limodorum ensatum Thunberg; Liuguishania taiwanensis Z. J. Liu & J. N. Zhang.

Plants terrestrial, autotrophic. Pseudobulbs ovoid, 1.5-2.5 × 1-1.5 cm, enclosed in leaf bases. Leaves 2-4(-6), lorate, 30-60 × 1-1.5(-2.5) cm, articulate 2-4 cm from base, margin sometimes serrate toward apex, apex acute. Inflorescence arising from base of pseudobulb, erect, 20-35 cm or longer, but usually shorter than leaves; rachis 3-9(-13)-flowered; floral bracts 5-8 mm and mostly less than 1/2 length of ovary, though basal bract to 20 mm. Flowers fragrant, variable in color, usually pale yellowish green, spotted with purple, mid-lobe with a few red spots; pedicel and ovary 20-25(-30) mm. Sepals narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic, 23-28 × 5-8 mm, apex acute; lateral sepals usually oblique. Petals spreading horizontally, narrowly elliptic or narrowly ovate-elliptic, 15-24 × 5-8 mm, apex acute; lip subovate, 15-23 mm, not fused to basal margins of column, obscurely 3-lobed; lateral lobes erect and loosely clasping column; mid-lobe recurved, ovate, 8-12 × 7-10 mm, margin kinked; disk minutely papillate, with 2 fleshy lamellae; lamellae extending almost to base of mid-lobe, converging in their apical half and forming a short tube. Column slightly arcuate, 10-14 mm, narrowly winged; pollinia 4, in 2 pairs, broadly ovoid. Capsule narrowly ellipsoid, 50-60 × ca. 20 mm. Fl. usually Jun-Oct, fr. Dec-Feb. 2n = 40*.

Cymbidium ×oblancifolium Z. J. Liu & S. C. Chen, a natural hybrid of C. ensifolium and C. lancifolium, was recently described (Forestry Stud. China 3: 23. 2000).

Open forests, thickets, grassy places along valleys; 600-1800 m. Anhui, N Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, W Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, SW Sichuan, Taiwan, SE Xizang, SE and W Yunnan, Zhejiang [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].


 

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