阿里山全唇兰 a li shan quan chun lan

Myrmechis gracilis (Blume) Blume var. sasakii (Yamamoto) S. S. Ying; M. japonica (H. G. Reichenbach) Rolfe var. sasakii (Yamamoto) S. S. Ying; M. sasakii Yamamoto.

Plants 5-7 cm tall. Rhizome slender, branched. Stem white, tinged with red, 2-6 cm, with several leaves. Leaves abaxially grayish green, adaxially green, ovate or orbicular-ovate, 7-15 × 5-10 mm, with 3 main veins, base obtuse, margin slightly undulate, apex acute; petiole-like base and sheath 2-7 mm. Inflorescence to 3 cm, slender, pubescent; rachis 1-3-flowered; floral bracts lanceolate, shorter than ovary, glabrous, margin slightly ciliate. Flowers not fully opening, white; ovary and pedicel cylindric-fusiform, ca. 10 mm, glabrous. Sepals lanceolate, cymbiform, 6-8 × 2.5-3.5 mm, glabrous, 1-veined, connate at base; dorsal sepal recurved at apex; lateral sepals dilated at base. Petals connivent with dorsal sepal for almost entire length and forming a hood, narrowly ovate, oblique, 6-8 × ca. 2.8 mm, 1-veined, apex obtuse and recurved; lip Y-shaped, 10-12 mm, 3-partite; hypochile concave-saccate; calli suboblong, bidentate; mesochile canaliculate, minutely papillose; epichile distinctly 2-lobed; lobes widely divergent, oblong, 1.5-2 × 1-1.5 mm, apex obtuse. Fl. May-Aug.

● Damp places in forests; 1000-3000 m. Taiwan.

Reports of Myrmechis gracilis (in S. S. Ying, Mem. Coll. Agric. Nat. Taiwan Univ. 29(1): 74. 1989) and M. japonica (in T. S. Liu & H. J. Su, Fl. Taiwan 5: 1064. 1978) from Taiwan are considered misidentifications of M. drymoglossifolia.