Calanthe brevicornu Lindl. 1833 SUBGENUS Calanthe SECTION Vernae

Photo by Philipp Cribb and The Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz © Website

EARLY

Common Name The Short Spurred Calanthe

Flower Size 1.4 to 1.6" [3.5 to 4 cm]

Found in the western Himalayas, northeastern India, Nepal, eastern Himalayas and Myanmar in dense forests at elevations of 1660 to 3100 meters as a medium sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial with small ovoid, pointed pseudobulbs carrying 3 to 4, ovate-ellipitc, acute to acuminate, older ones gradually narrowing into the petiolate base leaves that blooms in the spring and early summer on a terminal, erect, puberulous, 12" [30 cm] long, laxly 15 to 20 flowered inflorescence with distant, adpressed, lanceolate, acute sheaths and pubescent at the base, lanceolate, acute to acuminate, persistent, half as long as the ovary floral bracts, and carrying coconut scented flowers

CAUTION Many sources cite at least 2 distinct types within this species, but the brownish colored variety is the true C brevicornis and the light multicolor version is C lamellosa

Synonyms Alismorchis brevicornu (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Calanthe brevicornu var. wattii Hook.f. 1890;

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 drawing fide; The Orchids of North-Western Himalaya Vol IX Part II Duthie 1906; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; AOS Bulletin Vol 4 1958 Drawing fide; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Indian Orchids, Guide to Identification and Culture vol 2 Pradhan 1979 drawing fide; Orchids of North West Himalaya Deva & Naithani 1986 drawing fide; The Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb and Laurent 1992 drawing hmm; Native Orchids of China in Colour Chen, Tsi and Luo 1999 photo not = C lamellosa; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002 photo fide; 100 Sikkim Himalayan Orchids Pradhan 2005 photo fide; Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007; Native Orchids From Gaoligongshan Mountains, China Xiaohua, Xiaodong and Xiaochun 2009 photo not = C lamellosa; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009 not = C lamellosa; Orchids of Huanglong Perner, Tang Si-Yuan 2007 photos not = C lamellosa; The Wild Orchids in Yunnan Xu Xiang Ye & Liu 2010 photos not = C lamellosa; The Genus Calanthe Clayton & Cribb 2013 drawing/photo fide; LANKESTERIANA 15(1): 7—50. Jeewan Singh Jalal & J. Jayanthi 2015; Atlas of Native Orchids of China Vol 2 Jin Xiaohua, Li Jianwu and Ye Deping 2019 photo fide;

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