Liparis griffithii Ridl. 1886 SECTION Cestichis

Inflorescence Photo by © Pieter C. Brouwer and His Orchid Photo Website

LATE

Common Name Griffith's Liparis [English Physician and Orchid Collector in India 1800's]

Flower Size .32" [8 mm]

Found in Sikkim at elevations around 1000 to 1500 meters as a cool growing epiphyte with ovoid to oblong, compressed pseudobulbs and carrying 2, narrowly oblanceolate, acute, attenuated to the base leaves that blooms in the fall on an erect, arising from between the young leaves flattened, winged, 3 to 4" [7.5 to 10 cm] long, many flowered inflorescence with linear, acuminate, shorter than the ovary floral bracts.

CAUTION Said to be a synonym of L stricklandii but there is a huge difference in the wide flat, apically acuminate lip of this species and it matches King and Pantling's drawing s very well, than L stricklandiana with it's wide, rounded lobed lip. I have left them separate at this time.

Synonyms Leptorchis griffithii (Ridl.) Kuntze 1891;

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 drawing fide other than the apicule at the apex of the lip; AOS Bulletin Vol 47 #8 1978; Indian Orchids, Guide to Identification and Culture vol 2 Pradhan 1979 drawing fide;

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