Orchis chusua D. Don, Prodr. Fl. Nepal. 23. 1825; Amitostigma beesianum (W. W. Smith) Tang & F. T. Wang; Chusua donii Nevski; C. nana (King & Pantling) Pradhan; C. pauciflora (Lindley) P. F. Hunt; C. pulchella (Handel-Mazzetti) P. F. Hunt; C. roborowskyi (Maximowicz) P. F. Hunt var. delavayi (Schlechter) P. F. Hunt; C. roborowskyi var. giraldiana (Kraenzlin) P. F. Hunt; C. roborowskyi var. nana (King & Pantling) P. F. Hunt; C. roborowskyi var. tenii (Schlechter) P. F. Hunt; C. roborowskyi var. unifoliata (Schlechter) P. F. Hunt; C. secunda Nevski; Gymnadenia chusua (D. Don) Lindley; G. chusua var. nana (King & Pantling) Finet; G. pauciflora Lindley; Habenaria chusua (D. Don) Bentham; Orchis beesiana W. W. Smith; O. chusua var. delavayi (Schlechter) Soó; O. chusua var. nana King & Pantling; O. chusua var. pulchella (Handel-Mazzetti) Tang & F. T. Wang; O. chusua var. tenii (Schlechter) Soó; O. delavayi Schlechter; O. giraldiana Kraenzlin; O. mairei H. Léveillé; O. nana (King & Pantling) Schlechter; O. parcifloroides Handel-Mazzetti; O. pulchella Handel-Mazzetti; O. secunda (Nevski) Voroschilov; O. tenii Schlechter; O. unifoliata Schlechter; Ponerorchis beesiana (W. W. Smith) Soó; P. chusua var. delavayi (Schlechter) Soó; P. chusua var. giraldiana (Kraenzlin) Soó; P. chusua subsp. nana (King & Pantling) Soó; P. chusua var. tenii (Schlechter) Soó; P. chusua var. unifoliata (Schlechter) Soó; P. nana (King & Pantling) Soó; P. pauciflora (Lindley) Ohwi; P. pulchella (Handel-Mazzetti) Soó.
Plants (5-)8-45 cm tall. Tubers oblong or globose, 10-20 × ca. 10 mm. Stem (2.5-)5-23 cm, with 1-3 tubular sheaths at base, (1 or)2-5-leaved. Leaves cauline, alternate, widely spaced, green, lacking purple spots, linear, oblong-lanceolate, or elliptic, 3-15 × 0.2-3 cm, becoming smaller and bractlike above, glabrous, apex acute or acuminate. Inflorescence erect or slightly curved, 2-20 cm, glabrous; rachis 1.5-9 cm, (1 or)2-20-flowered; floral bracts lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 7-22 mm, lower ones foliaceous and exceeding flower, apex acuminate. Flowers often secund, pink, purplish red, or purple, medium-sized; ovary fusiform, 7-15 mm including pedicel, glabrous. Dorsal sepal erect, oblong or ovate-oblong, concave, 5-7(-8) × 2.5-4(-5) mm, 3-veined, apex subobtuse or acute; lateral sepals reflexed, ovate-lanceolate, oblique, 6-8(-9) × 3-5 mm, 3-veined, apex subobtuse to acuminate. Petals erect, forming a hood with dorsal sepal, narrowly ovate, broadly ovate, or narrowly ovate-oblong, oblique, 5-6(-7) × 3-4 mm, glabrous, 3-veined, apex obtuse; lip broadly oblong to obovate, 7-12(-15) × 7-13(-17) mm, spurred, 3- or 4-lobed above middle, margin crenulate, disk tinged white at base, marked with deep purple blotches; lobes variable; lateral lobes broadly oblong to subtriangular, falcate, 2-3(-5) × 2.5-5(-7) mm, apex obtuse or acute; mid-lobe oblong, square, or ovate, 1.8-3.5(-5) × 2-3.5(-6) mm, usually longer than broad, apex truncate to obtuse-rounded, subentire to distinctly notched and forming 2 lobules, often apiculate between 2 lobules; spur slightly pendulous or horizontal, sometimes distinctly curved upward toward apex, cylindric to cylindric-conic, often slightly attenuate, 7-15(-19) mm, usually slightly longer than ovary. Fl. Jun-Aug.
Forests, Rhododendron scrub, alpine grasslands, limestone outcrops, scree; 500-4500 m. E Gansu, Heilongjiang, Henan, SE and W Hubei, Jilin, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, E Qinghai, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, S and SE Xizang, NE and NW Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, Japan, Korea, N Myanmar, Nepal, Russia (Far East, Siberia)].
