红花宿苞兰 hong hua su bao lan

Rhizome short. Pseudobulbs ovoid to ellipsoid-cylindric, 1.5-3 cm × 5-8(-10) mm, sheathed at base, 2-leaved. Leaf blade narrowly oblong or oblanceolate-oblong, 6-15 × 1.5-3 cm, papery, shortly acuminate; petiole 7-15 cm. Inflorescence subdensely 10-30-flowered; peduncle 9.5-19 cm, glabrous; rachis 4-9 cm, glabrous; floral bracts distichous, subulate-lanceolate, 5-21 mm, grooved, pubescent externally, long acuminate. Flowers 6-11 mm, sepaline tube scarlet with purple apices; petals, lip, and column yellow; pedicel and ovary 4-10 mm, densely white pubescent. Sepals connate into a tube 6-9 mm, outer surface densely white villous; free apical lobes ovate-triangular, 3-4 mm, ± glabrous; lateral sepals conspicuously convex on one side at base forming a saccate mentum. Petals hidden in mentum, oblanceolate, 5-6 × ca. 1 mm; lip completely hidden in sepaline tube, suboblong, ca. 7 × 2 mm. Column short, thick, with a short foot. Fl. Jun-Aug. 2n = 38.

Epiphytic on trees in forests; 1800-2100 m. SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Myanmar, Nepal].