Calanthe puberula Lindl. 1833 SUBGENUS Calanthe SECTION Vernae

Plant and Flower in situ China

Photo by © Orchid Society of China Website

LATE

Common Name The Hairy Calanthe - In China Lian E Xia Ji Lan

Flower Size 1.2" [3 cm]

Found in the western Himalayas, the eastern Himalayas, Assam, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, southeast Xizang and southeast and western Yunnan provinces of China as well as Vietnam in moist evergreen broad leaved forests at elevations of 1200 to 3000 meters as a cool to cold growing terrestrial with narrowly cylindric pseduobulbs carrying 4 to 5, basal, green, well developed at blooming, not deciduous, elliptic to elliptic-oblong, glabrous to sparsely puberulent along the veins abaxially, plicate, 5 veined, acute to acuminate apically, gradually narrowing below into the petiolate base leaves that blooms in the late spring and summer on 1 to 2, arsing from near the apex of the pseudobulb, erect, slender, 9.2 to 16" [23 to 40 cm] long, laxly 4 to 10 flowered inflorescence with several, lanceolate, sterile sheaths and persistent, lanceolate, abaxially puberulent, long acuminate apically floral bracts.

This species and C reflexa have often been considered conspecific. Differences appear to be in the lip structure and bloom time. I have combined them again but you can see the separation by going to the alphbetical listing for C reflexa

Synonyms Alismorkis puberula (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Alismorkis reflexa (Maxim.) Kuntze 1891; Calanthe amoena W.W.Sm. 1921; Calanthe lepida W.W.Sm. 1921; Calanthe okushirensis Miyabe & Tatew. 1936; Calanthe puberula var. formosana (Murata) M.Hiroe 1971; Calanthe puberula var. okushirensis (Miyabe & Tatew.) M.Hiroe 1971; Calanthe puberula var. reflexa (Maxim.) M.Hiroe. 1971; Calanthe reflexa Maxim. 1873; Calanthe reflexa var. okushirensis (Miyabe & Tatew.) Ohwi 1953; Calanthe reflexa var. formosana Murata 1962; Calanthe reflexa var. puberula (Lindl.) Kudo 1930; Calanthe similis Schltr. 1919; Calanthe triplicata f. albolineata (K.Nakaj.) Hatus. 1971; Paracalanthe reflexa var. puberula (Lindl.) Kudô 1930; Paracalanthe reflexa (Maxim.) Kudô 1930

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 44 #9 1975 as C reflexa; Indian Orchids, Guide to Identification and Culture vol 2 Pradhan 1979 drawing fide; Orchids of North West Himalaya Deva & Naithani 1986 drawing fide; Identification of the Orchids [Orchidaceae Juss.] Vietnam Averyanov 1994; Native Orchids of China in Colour Chen, Tsi and Luo 1999 photo fide; The Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002; 100 Sikkim Himalayan Orchids Pradhan 2005 photo fide; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009 as C reflexa; The Wild Orchids in Yunnan Xu Xiang Ye & Liu 2010 photos ok; The Genus Calanthe Clayton & Cribb 2013 drawing/photo good; LANKESTERIANA 15(1): 7—50. Jeewan Singh Jalal & J. Jayanthi; Atlas of Native Orchids of China Vol 2 Jin Xiaohua, Li Jianwu and Ye Deping 2019 photo good;

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