白花大苞兰 bai hua da bao lan

Ione candida Lindley, Fol. Orchid. 2(Ione): 3. 1853; Bulbophyllum candidum (Lindley) J. D. Hooker.

Rhizome creeping, ca. 1.5 mm in diam. Pseudobulbs 1.5-2 cm apart on rhizome, ovoid, 1-1.5 cm, 5-7 mm in diam., with 1 leaf at apex. Leaf shortly petiolate; blade erect, narrowly oblong, 3-6 × 0.4-0.7 cm, leathery, apex obtuse and retuse. Scapes solitary or in pairs, erect, 5-9 cm; peduncle yellowish green, 2-4 cm, slender, with 2 or 3 tubular sheaths ca. 6 mm; raceme 3-4 cm, usually 7- or 8-flowered; floral bracts narrowly lanceolate, 5-7 mm, membranous, apex acuminate. Pedicel and ovary 4-7 mm. Flowers thinly textured; sepals and petals greenish white; lip yellow in apical half and white in basal half. Dorsal sepal ovate-lanceolate, ca. 6 × 1.5 mm, apex acuminate; lateral sepals similar to dorsal sepal, their lower edges connate to each other except apices. Petals ovate, ca. 3 × 1.5-1.7 mm, membranous, 1-veined, margins erose, apex acute; lip ovate-lanceolate, abruptly contracted near middle, 5.6-6 × 1.6-2 mm, adaxially with 1 thickened keel from base to apex, margins erose-lacerate in basal half, apex obtuse. Column white, ca. 1 mm; foot ca. 1 mm; each pair of pollinia with a stipe and a viscidium. Fl. Jul-Aug. 2n = 40.

Tree trunks in forests; 1900-2900 m. S and SE Xizang, NW to S Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India].