紫花鹤顶兰 zi hua he ding lan

Limatodis mishmensis Lindley & Paxton, Paxt. Fl. Gard. 3: 36. 1852; Calanthe crinita Gagnepain; C. ramosa Gagnepain; Phaius crinitus (Gagnepain) Seidenfaden; P. gracilis Hayata.

Plants 40-140 cm tall. Pseudobulb stemlike, cylindric, 30-80 × 0.6-1.5 cm. Leaves 4-7; blade green, elliptic or obovate-lanceolate, (10-)15-30 × 4-8 cm, glabrous, apex acute. Inflorescences arising from middle nodes of pseudobulb or axils of upper leaves above middle, ca. as tall as or taller than height of leaves, (30-)35-45 cm, sparsely 2-10-flowered, glabrous; floral bracts caducous, oblong-lanceolate, 3-4 cm, glabrous. Flowers not widely opening, 5-6 cm in diam.; pedicel and ovary 2-3 cm, glabrous; sepals and petals pale pink to dark red or purple-brown. Sepals similar, elliptic, 2.5-3.5 × 0.5-1.2 cm, glabrous, apex subacute. Petals oblanceolate, 2-3.5 × 0.4-0.7 cm, apex obtuse; lip white to pink, densely reddish brown spotted, obovate-triangular, 2-3.5 × 1.5-2.5 cm, 3-lobed; lateral lobes ovate, margins flat or slightly undulate, apex obtuse or rounded; mid-lobe subsquare or broadly obovate, margin undulate, apex emarginate to retuse; disk with 3 or 4 densely hirsute-pubescent ridges extending to mid-lobe; spur slightly curved, yellow-green, narrowly cylindric, 1-1.6 × ca. 0.2 cm, apex obtuse. Column yellow or whitish, ca. 2.2 cm, densely villous ventrally; rostellum triangular. Fl. Oct-Jan. 2n = 42, 44 + 4f, 50, 62.

Shaded and wet places in evergreen broad-leaved forests; 800-1400 m. NW Guangdong, Guangxi, C and S Taiwan, SE Xizang, S and SE Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].