萼脊兰 e ji lan

Aerides japonica H. G. Reichenbach, Hamburger Garten- Blumenzeitung 19: 210. 1863.

Stems ca. 1 cm, with 4-6 nearly basal leaves. Leaves oblong or obovate-lanceolate, 6-13 × ca. 2.5 cm, slightly bilobed. Inflorescence pendulous, ca. 18 cm, laxly ca. 6-flowered; floral bracts pale brown, broadly ovate, ca. 8 mm, concave. Flowers orange-scented, whitish green, with 1-3 transverse bands of dull brown spots adaxially on lateral sepals, lip mid-lobe spotted purple-red, margins of lateral lobes purple-red, claw with purplish red ridges adaxially; pedicel and ovary ca. 18 mm. Sepals oblong, ca. 17 × 7.5 mm, obtuse; lateral sepals slightly narrower than dorsal sepal. Petals oblong-ligulate, ca. 15 × 7 mm, obtuse; lip 3-lobed; lateral lobes subtriangular, very small; mid-lobe spatulate, large, ca. 1.5 cm, adaxially concave, clawed at base, margin irregularly crenate; spur spreading horizontally, nearly parallel to mid-lobe, ca. 1.3 cm, with a suberect fleshy appendage at entrance. Column ca. 1 cm, foot ca. 4 mm. Fl. Jun.

Epiphytic on tree trunks in open forests or on cliffs along valleys; 600-1400 m. W Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Korea].