Thunia marshalliana Rchb. f. 1876
Photo courtesy of David P. Banks Australia Copyright Control ©
Photo by © Francis J Quesada-Pallares
to 
MID 
Common Name Marshall's Thunia [English Orchid Enthusiast 1800's]
Flower Size 5 1/2" [13.75 cm]
A giant sized, erect, cool to cold growing terrestrial from Myanmar, Thailand and southern China on the ground, on rocks and in tree forks at elevations of 1000 to 2300 meters with robust, jointed, stems that are enveloped by leaf sheaths below and leafy above as oblong, lanceolate, distichous, glaucous below, acumiante, pale green, leaves with a pale mid nerve that flowers in the mid-summer on a terminal, drooping, racemose inflorescence with large, spathaceous, persistent bracts all arising on young leaf shoots with 3 to 12, large, showy, fragrant, short-lived flowers sheathed by a white, cucullate, floral bract.
Synonyms Phaius marshallianus N.E. Br. 1889; Phajus marshallianus (Rchb. f.) N.E. Br. 1889; Phaius marshallianus var. purpurata (Rchb.f.) N.E.Br. 1889; Phaius marshallianus var. triloba (Rchb.f.) N.E.Br. 1889; Thunia marshalliana var. ionophlebia Rchb.f. 1885; Thunia marshalliana var. purpurata Rchb.f. 1888; Thunia marshalliana var. triloba Rchb.f. 1888
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Burma Grant 1895/95 as Thunia alba var marshalliana; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 photo good; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1965 corrections photo not = T alba; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 drawing ok; Indian Orchids, Guide to Identification and Culture vol 2 Pradhan 1979 photo fide; Die Orchideen Band 3 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas Liferung #14 820 - 880 1984 drawing/photo ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 5/436 1992 photo; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 drawing/photo fide; Thai Orchid Species Rakpaibulsombat 1992 as T alba photo fide; 100 Sikkim Himalayan Orchids Pradhan 2005 as Thunia alba not photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 76 #7 2007 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 79 #5 2010 as T alba var marshalliana photo fide;
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