报春石斛 bao chun shi hu

Callista cretacea (Lindley) Kuntze; C. primulina (Lindley) Kuntze; Dendrobium cretaceum Lindley; D. nobile Lindley var. pallidiflorum Hooker; D. primulinum Lindley.

Stems pendulous, cylindric, usually 20-35 cm, stout, 8-13 mm in diam., fleshy, unbranched, deciduous, with many nodes, internodes 2-2.5 cm. Leaves alternate along entire stem, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 8-10.5 × 2-3 cm, papery, apex obtuse and unequally bilobed; leaf sheath papery or membranous. Inflorescence arising from old stems after leaves have fallen, 1-3-flowered; peduncle penetrating 2 sheaths, cymbiform-concave, ca. 2 mm; basal sheaths 3 or 4, 2-3 mm, membranous; floral bracts pale white, ovate, 5-9 mm, membranous, apex obtuse. Pedicel and ovary yellowish green, 2-2.5 cm. Flowers spreading, pendulous; sepals and petals pale roseate or white (D. cretaceum), lip pale yellow with pale roseate tip, disk with purplish red stripes, column white, anther cap purple. Dorsal sepal narrowly lanceolate, ca. 30 × 6-8(or more) mm, 3-5-veined, subacute; lateral sepals similar in size and shape, 3-5-veined, base oblique, apex subacute; mentum narrowly conic, ca. 5 mm, obtuse. Petals narrowly oblong, ca. 30 × 7-9 mm, 3-5-veined, margin entire, apex obtuse; lip broadly obovate, shorter than wide, ca. 35 mm wide, both sides embracing column in lower half, both surfaces densely pubescent, margin irregularly denticulate. Column ca. 3 mm; anther cap elliptic-conic, densely papillate-hairy, front margin broadly emarginate, apex ± concave.

Epiphytic on tree trunks in open forests; 700-1800 m. S Yunnan [N India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam].