早花象牙参 zao hua xiang ya shen

Roscoea cautleoides Credit: Harvard University Herbaria

Plants 15--40(--60) cm tall. Leaves 3 or 4; leaf sheath glabrous or densely subappressed pubescent; ligule ca. 1 mm; leaf blade lanceolate or linear, 5--15(--40) × 1.5--3 cm, strongly keeled, scabrous, adaxially with scaly pustules, abaxially glabrous or densely subappressed pubescent, base narrowed, apex obtuse to acute. Inflorescence shortly to long exserted from leaf sheaths; peduncle ridged; bracts green with brownish veins, tubular, 4--6 cm. Flowers 1 to several opening together, purple, yellow, white, or rarely pale pink, sometimes appearing before leaves develop. Calyx 3--5.6 cm, split to middle on 1 side, apex 2-toothed. Corolla tube 3--3.5 cm, slender; lobes lanceolate, 2.5--2 cm. Labellum reflexed, obovate, 2.5--3 cm, external margin crisped, apex 2-lobed. Anther linear, 1--1.5 cm including spur. Capsule oblong, 1.5--3.5 cm. Seeds ellipsoid to 3-angled. Fl. May--Aug.

* Pinus forests, dwarf scrub, meadows, grasslands; 2000--3500 m. Sichuan, Yunnan.