叠鞘兰 die qiao lan

Hetaeria shikokiana (Makino & F. Maekawa) Tuyama.

Plants 5-18 cm tall. Rhizome 1.2-1.4 cm, stout, 2.5-3.5 mm in diam. Stem erect, yellow to pale brownish red, with a few membranous sheathing scales. Inflorescence few to more than 10-flowered; rachis 3-5 cm; floral bracts yellow to pale brownish red, narrowly ovate-elliptic, 5-8 mm, shorter than ovary, membranous, apex acute. Flowers yellowish brown; ovary and pedicel yellow to pale brownish red, cylindric-fusiform, 8-10 mm. Sepals 1-veined; dorsal sepal connivent with petals, ovate, concave, ca. 3 × 1.6 mm, apex obtuse; lateral sepals ovate, oblique, 3-3.5 × 1.8-2 mm, apex obtuse. Petals linear, ca. 3 × 0.6 mm, 1-veined, apex obtuse; lip T-shaped, ca. 4.5 mm, 3-partite; hypochile slightly dilated, concave-saccate, ca. 0.8 mm, containing 2 sessile, subglobose calli at base; mesochile ca. 2 mm, with external flanges; flanges narrow, margin irregularly incised-crenulate; epichile transversely dilated, suboblong, ca. 2 × 5 mm, 2-lobed; lobes suboblong, diverging at right angles to axis of lip, ca. 1.5 × 2 mm, margin entire or slightly crenulate, apex truncate or occasionally slightly apiculate. Column short, with 2 triangular, falcate wings toward apex; anther ovoid, attached to column via a short linear filament; rostellum very small. Fl. Jul-Aug.

Damp places in evergreen broad-leaved forests; 2500-2800 m. SW Sichuan, E Xizang [NE India, Japan].

"Gastrodia shikokiana" (Makino, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 6: 48. 1892) is a nomen nudum and was therefore not validly published.