Arachnanthe clarkei Rolfe 1888
Photos by © Rudolf Jenny
Photo by © Sudeep Kumar Jain
Another Flower not = new species?
Photos by © Lanhua and RV Orchid Works Website
TO 
Through LATE
Common Name Clark's Arachnanthe [English Botanist and Orchid Collector in India 1800's] In China - Hua Zhi Zhu Lan
Flower Size 2.2 to 3" [5.5 to 7.5 cm]
Found in Assam, eastern Himalayas, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Myanmar, Thailand and southern China on rocks along valleys or on tree trunks in open forests at elevations 1500 to 2000 meters as a large to giant sized, cool growing, monopodial epiphyte or lithophyte with an elongate pendant stem carrying oblong-lorate, coriaceous leaves that blooms in the fall to late winter on a 8" [20 cm] long, 3 to 4 flowered inflorescence with slightly fragrant flowers.
CAUTION To the best of my knowledge these determinations are correct but all references are very convoluted for this species and A bella. I am at a loss to figure out which is which. In fact for years A bella has been considered to be a synonym of A clarkei but if you look at the pictures of both species you can see that they are quite different. Also there seems to be a lot of variation in the species as can be seen in the photos as well.
Synonyms Arachnanthe bella (Rchb.f.) C.H.Wright & Dewar 1894; Arachnis clarkei (Rolfe) J.J. Sm. 1912; Esmeralda clarkei Rchb. f. 1886; Vanda clarkei Br. 1888
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 drawing fide; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as Esmeralda clarkei; The Orchids of Malaya Holtum 1953 as Arachnis clarkei; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 1 1958 as Arachnanthe clarkei drawing FIDE; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1963 drawing fide; The Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as Arachnis clarkei; Indian Orchids, Guide to Identification and Culture vol 2 Pradhan 1979 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 52 No 8 1983 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 54 # 8 1985 photo fide; Opera Botanica # 95 Seidenfaden 1988 as Esmeralda clarkei drawing fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 22 1329 - 1392 Brieger 1989 as Esmeralda clarkei drawing/photo fide; The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids Pridgeon 1992 as Esmeralda clarkei; The Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb & Laurent 1992 as Esmeraldae clarkei; Manual of Orchids Stewart 1995 as Esmeralda clarkei; The Wild Orchids of China Tsi, Chen & Mori 1997 as Esmeralda bella; Native Orchids of China in Colour Singchi, Zhanhuo and Yibo 1999 photo fide as Esmeralda bella; A field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Thailand Vaddhanaphuti 2001 as Esmeralda clarkei photo fide; Beautiful Orchids of Nepal Rajbhandari & Bhattarai 2001; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002 as Esmeralda clarkei; A field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Thailand Vaddhanaphuti 2005 as Esmeralda clarkei photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 71 No 1 2007 photo fide; Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007 drawing fide; Native Orchids From Gaoligongshan Mountains, China Xiaohua, Xiaodong and Xiaochun 2009 photo plant only as Esmeralda clarkei; A Field Guide to the Orchids of China Singchi, Zhongjian, Yibo, Xiaohua and Zhanhuo 2009 as Esmeralda bella photo fide; A Field Guide to the Orchids of China Singchi, Zhongjian, Yibo, Xiaohua and Zhanhuo 2009 as Esmeralda clarkei photo fide; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009 as Esmeralda bella; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009 as Esmeralda clarkei; Flora of China Illustrations Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2010 as Esmeralda clarkei drawing fide; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009; Flora of China Vol 25 Illustrations Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2010 drawing fide; The Atlas of Wild Orchids in Hainan Island, China Shenyan and Junmei 2010 photo ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 80 #1 2011 as Esmeralda clarkei photo fide; Genera Orchidacearum Vol 6 Epidendrodeaea Pt 3 Pridgeon, Cribb, Chase and Rasmussen 2014; Atlas of Native Orchids of China Vol 2 Jin Xiaohua, Li Jianwu and Ye Deping 2019 photo fide; Turczaninowia 20 (1): 68–74 Two endangered ornamental orchid species, Bulbophyllum coweniorum and Esmeralda bella (Orchidaceae), new in the flora of Vietnam Nguyen Hoang Tuan, L. V. Averyanov 2017
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