云南叉柱兰 yun nan cha zhu lan

Cheirostylis josephii Schlechter; C. munnacampensis A. N. Rao; C. pabongensis Lucksom.

Plants 10-18 cm tall. Rhizome moniliform, 1-3.5 × 0.6-1.5 cm; roots in broad, raised bands along rhizome internodes. Stem pale green, usually less than 1 cm, 2- or 3-leaved. Leaves congested, often withered or absent at anthesis, green, ovate, 1.5-3.5 × 0.8-2 cm, membranous, base subrounded, apex acute; petiole-like base and sheath 0.6-1.5 cm. Inflorescence 8-16 cm, sparsely villous, with 3 or 4 sterile bracts; rachis 0.4-2 cm, 2-5(-10)-flowered; floral bracts ovate, concave, 5-6.5 mm, shorter than ovary, abaxially villous, apex acuminate. Flowers often erect; ovary cylindric-fusiform, 7-9 mm including pedicel, sparsely villous. Sepals 5-6.5 mm, basal 1/2 connate and forming a tube, membranous, outer surface sparsely villous, 1-veined; free apical lobes triangular-ovate, 2.5-3 mm, apex subobtuse. Petals appressed to dorsal sepal, white, narrowly oblanceolate-oblong, oblique, 5-6.5 × 1.5-1.8 mm, membranous, 1-veined, entire or sometimes with 2 or 3 obtuse teeth, apex obtuse; lip erect, white, 9-12 mm, 3-partite; hypochile saccate, containing 2 comblike calli, each callus 3- or 4-toothed; mesochile ca. 2 mm, narrow, with 2 lamellae; epichile with green spots at base, flabellate, 5-6 mm, deeply 2-lobed; lobes 4-6 mm wide, margin irregularly 5-7-dentate, teeth triangular with acute tips. Column ca. 2.5 mm; stelidia erect, nearly as long as rostellum arms; anther ovoid, ca. 1 mm; rostellum arms ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. Mar-Apr.

In shade on rocky soils in forests, along streams; 200-1800 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, S Guizhou, Hainan, S Hunan, W Sichuan, S Yunnan [India (Sikkim), Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].