Physurus blumei Lindley, Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl. 504. 1840; Erythrodes brevicalcar J. J. Smith; E. chinensis (Rolfe) Schlechter; E. formosana Schlechter; E. henryi Schlechter; E. triantherae C. L. Yeh & C. S. Leou; Microchilus blumei (Lindley) D. Dietrich; P. chinensis Rolfe; P. henryi (Schlechter) K. Schumann & Lauterbach.

Plants 18-60 cm tall. Stem erect, green, 2.5-3.5 mm in diam., with 3-6 leaves. Leaves petiolate, abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green, ovate, elliptic, or ovate-lanceolate, sometimes slightly oblique, 4.5-10 × 2-6 cm, abaxially with 3 conspicuous veins, base broadly cuneate or obtuse, apex acute; petiole 2.4-4 cm, basally dilated into amplexicaul sheath. Peduncle 12-40 cm, pubescent, with 3-6 sterile bracts; rachis 5-10 cm, pubescent, subdensely many flowered; floral bracts reddish brown, lanceolate, 10-12 × ca. 4 mm, abaxially pubescent, apex acuminate. Flowers small; sepals pubescent outside, reddish brown or brownish green outside, white with pinkish markings inside; ovary reddish brown, twisted, terete, pubescent, including pedicel 9-10 mm. Dorsal sepal erect, concave, narrowly elliptic, 4-6 × 1.5-2.5 mm, apex slightly obtuse; lateral sepals spreading, obliquely elliptic or ovate-elliptic, 5.5-6 × ca. 3 mm, apex acute or slightly obtuse. Petals similar in color to sepals, oblanceolate, 4-6 × 1.5-2 mm, midvein transparent, apex obtuse; lip reddish brown adaxially, 4-5.5 mm, 3-lobed at apex; lateral lobes erect, small; mid-lobe reflexed, white, broadly ovate to triangular-ovate, apex subacute; spur pendulous, reddish brown, tubular, 1.5-4 mm, centrally slightly dilated, glabrous, apex shallowly 2-lobed. Column erect, 1.5-4 mm, bearing up to 3 anthers in some Taiwanese populations. Fl. Apr-May.

Continuity in the length of the spur and in the outline of the central lobe of the lip make it difficult to distinguish between Erythrodes chinensis and E. blumei, though Ormerod (Lindleyana 17: 194. 2002) used these characters to differentiate the two. The report of E. latifolia Blume from Taiwan (in T. S. Liu & H. J. Su, Fl. Taiwan 5: 990. 1978) is considered a misidentification of E. blumei. The recently described E. triantherae from Taiwan, which the authors distinguished from E. blumei primarily by the presence of up to three anthers on the column (see C. L. Yeh & C. S. Leou, Taiwania 51: 266. 2006), is probably a peloric mutant and is referable to E. blumei when the full range in dimensions of other floral parts in the latter is taken into account.

Evergreen broad-leaved forests; 400-1500 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, SE Yunnan [NE India, Indonesia, Malaysia, N Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].