香花指甲兰 xiang hua zhi jia lan

Epidendrum odoratum (Loureiro) Poiret.

Stems rather drooping, stout, branched. Leaf blade broadly lorate, 15-20 × 2.5-4.6 cm, thickly leathery, obtuse and unequally bilobed. Inflorescence numerous, nodding, racemose, 15-30 cm, densely 20-30-flowered; floral bracts broadly ovate, 5-9 mm, obtuse. Flowers fragrant, opening widely, 1.5-3 cm in diam., purple to almost white, often tipped and spotted purple, spur apex greenish yellow; pedicel and ovary 1-2.5 cm, slender. Dorsal sepal elliptic, ca. 10 × 8 mm, obtuse-rounded; lateral sepals broadly ovate, ca. 12 × 9 mm, adnate at base to column foot, apex obtuse. Petals subelliptic, 11-12 × 5-7 mm, base contracted, apex obtuse; lip immovable, spurred, 3-lobed, almost enclosing column; lateral lobes erect, obovate-cuneate, ca. 15 × 10 mm, distal margin irregularly toothed, apex obtuse-rounded; mid-lobe linear, ca. 12 × 3 mm, bilobed; spur bent forward, narrowly horn-shaped, ca. 1 cm. Column ca. 5 mm, thick, foot ca. 9 mm. Fl. May. 2n = 36, 38, 40.

On tree trunks in forests; 200-1200 m. Guangdong, W Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].

For a more extensive synonymy, see Seidenfaden (Opera Bot. 95: 242-243. 1988).