勐海天麻 meng hai tian ma

Plants 13-30 cm tall. Rhizome subellipsoid, 1-2.5 cm, rather stout, 0.5-1 cm in diam., with a few roots. Peduncle brown to gray, 10-25 cm, with 5-7 cylindric, membranous sheaths below middle; rachis 2-5 cm, laxly 3-10-flowered; floral bracts brownish, ovate, 3-4 mm, apex acute. Flowers suberect, not opening widely, white; pedicel and ovary 4-5 mm; pedicel elongating to ca. 2.2 cm in fruit. Perianth tube cylindric, 8-12 mm, lacking a deep sinus between lateral sepals, outer surface smooth; free portion of sepals deltoid, 1.5-2 mm, margin crisped, apex obtuse-rounded; free portion of petals orbicular, much smaller than sepal lobes, margin crisped, apex rounded; lip shallowly 3-lobed, broadly ovate, 2-2.8 × 1.8-2.2 mm, glabrous, base long clawed, margin denticulate, apex obtuse; claw ca. 4.5 × 1 mm, connate to inner surface of perianth tube for its entire length, with a pair of calli at base; disk with a fleshy longitudinal ridge. Column 4-5 mm, winged, papillate at base; column foot short or inconspicuous. Capsule ellipsoid, 15-18 × 5-8 mm. Fl. and fr. Sep-Oct.

● Forests; ca. 1200 m. S Yunnan (Menghai).