波瓣兜兰 bo ban dou lan

Cypripedium insigne Wallich ex Lindley, Coll. Bot. ad t. 32. 1821; Cordula insignis (Wallich ex Lindley) Rafinesque.

Plants terrestrial. Leaves 5 or 6, distichous; blade abaxially pale green and with purple speckles toward base, adaxially uniformly deep green, narrowly elliptic or linear-oblong, 18-30 × 2.5-3.5 cm, leathery, obtuse and minutely tridenticulate at apex. Scape erect, terminating in a solitary flower; peduncle green-purple, 19-25 cm, densely purple pubescent; floral bract purple spotted, ovate-elliptic, conduplicate, 4-5.5 × 2-3 cm, glabrous; pedicel and ovary 5-6 cm, densely purple pubescent. Flower 7-10 cm in diam.; dorsal sepal greenish yellow in center, broadly white margined, with purple-brown spots; synsepal pale green-yellow, with purple-red or purple-brown spots and white margin; petals yellowish brown, with darker veins; lip yellow-brown or yellowish green, flushed and veined with brown, with a narrow greenish margin; staminode yellowish. Dorsal sepal broadly ovate or ovate-orbicular, 5-6 × 4-4.5 cm, abaxially pubescent, apical margin incurved, ciliate, obtuse at apex; synsepal ovate-elliptic, 3.8-5.5 × 1.8-3.5 cm, pubescent abaxially. Petals spatulate or oblong-spatulate, 4.9-5.5 × 1.2-2.2 cm, adaxially purple villous toward base, margin undulate, apex obtuse or slightly tridenticulate; lip helmet-shaped, 3.5-5 cm; pouch 2.5-3 × 1.5-2 cm. Staminode obovate, 9-10 × 8-9 mm, purple puberulent on both surfaces, with a central umbo. Fl. Oct-Dec. 2n = 10, 21, 24, 26, 27, 28, 36, 39, 40.

Rocky and litter-rich places on grassy and bushy slopes; 1200-1600 m. NW Yunnan [NE India].