蛤兰 ge lan

Conchidium sinicum Lindley; Eria pusilla (Griffith) Lindley; E. sinica (Lindley) Lindley; Phreatia uniflora Wight; Pinalia pusilla (Griffith) Kuntze; P. sinica (Lindley) Kuntze.

Plants 1-3 cm tall; rhizome long creeping, slender, with grayish white membranous sheaths. Pseudobulbs usually growing in pairs, each pair 2-5 cm apart on rhizome, nearly subglobose or compressed globose, 3-6 mm in diam., covered by reticulate membranous sheaths (sheaths deciduous when dry). Leaves 2 or 3, obovate-lanceolate, obovate, or subelliptic to orbicular, 5-16 × 2-4 mm, with 3-6 main veins, apex with an awn 1-1.5 mm, or obtuse, rounded, or subtruncate, apiculate; petiole 2-3 mm, articulate. Inflorescence 1-5 cm, 1- or 2-flowered; floral bracts ovate, ca. 2 mm, shortly aristate or acuminate. Flowers white or pale yellow, small; pedicel and ovary ca. 1.5 mm. Dorsal sepal ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 4-6 × ca. 1.5 mm, obtuse or acuminate; lateral sepals triangular or ovate-triangular, slightly oblique, 4.5-6 × ca. 2 mm, acuminate; mentum long, incurved. Petals lanceolate, ca. 4 × 1 mm, acuminate; lip lanceolate or subelliptic, ca. 3.5 × 1.5 mm, base contracted, entire, margin thinly ciliate or irregularly denticulate, apex obtuse or acuminate; disk with 2 or 3 stripes, running from base to near middle. Column ca. 1 mm, foot ca. 2 mm, slightly curved. Fl. Oct-Nov.

Lithophytic on damp rocks or epiphytic on tree trunks in forests; 600-1500 m. S Fujian, S Guangdong, S Guangxi, Hainan, SE Xizang, SE Yunnan [NE India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].