Pleione D. Don
一葉蘭屬
Epiphytic or lithophytic herbs. Pseudobulbs tufted, usually ovoid, 1-leaved at apex. Leaves produced from lower part of old pseudobulbs, growing with flower buds and matured after anthesis with new pseudobulb below, membranaceous or subcoriaceous, narrow, often plicate, articulate, deciduous in winter. Flowers terminal, often produced before growth of new pseudobulbs, large and showy, 1 or 2 borne on short peduncle; bracts rather large, deciduous; sepals subequal, spreading, usually elongate-oblong; petals similar to sepals but slightly narrower; lip sessile at base of column, convolute near base forming tube, apex obscurely 3-lobed, disc with keels; column stender, erect, apex winged or hooded over anther; anther terminal, nearly erect on ventral side of column, 2-celled; pollinia 4, connected in 2 pairs by viscid material, with short caudicles; stigma entire; rostellum broad, protruding beyond anther and stigma.
About 20 species, mainly in the Himalayan region, China and India, some species extending to Myanmar and Thailand. One species in Taiwan.
Hunt, P. F. & G. G. Vosa. 1971. Cytology and taxonomy of genus Pleione D. Don (Orchidaceae). Kew Bull. 25(3): 423-432.
