少叶硬叶兰 shao ye ying ye lan

Plants epiphytic, autotrophic. Pseudobulbs narrowly ovoid, slightly bilaterally flattened, 7-8 × 4-5 cm, enclosed in leaf bases when young. Leaves 2-4, deep green, lorate, 33-64 × 3-4.7 cm, rigid, thickly leathery, articulate 7-8 cm from base, apex obtuse and unequally 2-lobed. Inflorescence arising from within sheaths at base of pseudobulb, arching or pendulous, 25-40 cm; rachis 14.5-23 cm, 6-11-flowered; floral bracts triangular, ca. 3 mm. Flowers slightly scented, ca. 4 cm in diam.; pedicel and ovary 22-25 mm; sepals and petals dark purplish red or blackish purple with yellow margins ca. 0.8 mm wide; lip purple-red, with yellowish spots near base, white speckles on lateral lobes and yellow margins on mid-lobe. Sepals spreading, narrowly oblong or narrowly ligulate-elliptic, 20-23 × 5.5-6.5 mm, apex obtuse. Petals narrowly oblong, 18-20 × 4.5-5.5 mm, apex obtuse; lip subovate in outline, 17-20 × 14-15 mm, not fused to basal margins of column, base saccate, 3-lobed; lateral lobes erect, subovate, weakly clasping and exceeding column and anther; mid-lobe recurved, broadly oblong-elliptic, 8-9 × 8-9 mm; disk with 2 cream-white or yellow lamellae. Column slightly arcuate, ca. 12 mm, base with a very short foot; pollinia 2. Fl. Oct-Nov.

● Trees. S Yunnan.

This species is very close to Cymbidium mannii in its floral morphology. It has fewer, broader leaves, similar to those of C. aloifolium, and is said to flower at a different time. The possibility of a hybrid origin between these species cannot be dismissed.