Calanthe pulchra (Blume) Lindl. 1833 SUBGENUS Calanthe SECTION Styloglossum

Photo by © The Project Noah Website

Inflorescence

Photo by © Amos Tan

Inflorescence

Photo by André Schuiteman, courtesy of Dr. E.F. de Vogel and Jaap Vermeulen and Their Netherlands National Herbarium Website

Common Name or Meaning The Beautiful Calanthe

Flower Size 1/2" [1.25 cm]

Found in Laos, Thailand, Borneo, Java, Malaysia, the Philippines and Sumatra in humid forests on decaying tree trunks and in deep leaf mold on the forest floor at elevations of 120 to 1700 meters as a medium to large sized, hot to cool growing terrestrial with close set, small pseudobulbs enveloped by leaf sheaths and carrying 5 to 6, elliptic, acuminate, plicate, gradually narrowing below into the elongate petiolate base leaf that blooms in the spring on a 20 to 24" [50 to 60 cm] long, erect, hairless, densely 40 to 110 flowered, racemose inflorescence with large, lanceolate, acute, very concave floral bracts that fall before the odorless flowers open

The small flower and hooked spur are diagnostic for this species.

Synonyms Alismorchis pulchra (Blume) Kuntze 1891; Amblyglottis pulchra Blume 1825; Calanthe curculigoides Lindl. 1833; Calanthe shelfordii Ridl. 1900; Styloglossum nervosa Breda 1827; Styloglossum pulchrum ( Blume ) T.Yukawa & P.J.Cribb 2014

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Studies in the Family Orchidaceae Fascile 2 Ames 1908; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as C curculigoides; Flora of Malaya Vol 1 Holttum 1957 drawing fide; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Orchid Digest Vol 45 No 4 1981 photo fide; Die Orchideen Von Java J.J.Sm. 1905; Die Orchideen Von Java Figuren Atlas J.J.Smith 1908 drawing fide; Orchidiana Philipiniana Vol 1 Valmayor 1984; Orchids of Java Comber 1990 photo fide; The Orchids of Penninsular Malaysia and Singapore Wood & Seidenfaden 1992 drawing/photo fide; The Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb and Laurent 1992 drawing good; Orchids of Malaya Segerback 1992 photos fide; The Plants of Mount Kinabalu Vol 2 Orchids Wood Beaman & Beaman 1993 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 63 # 11 1994 photo fide; A Checklist of the Orchids of Borneo Wood & Cribb 1994 drawing fide; A Checklist of the Orchids of Borneo Wood & Cribb 1994 as C shelfordii; Orchids of Sumatra Comber 2001 photo fide; Orchids of Sarawak Beeman & Wood 2001 photo fide; Orchids of Sarawak Beaman, Wood & Beaman etal 2001 as C shelfordii; Orchid Digest Vol 66 #3 2002 photo ok; Flora Malesiana Orchids of the Philippines Vol I Agoo, Shuiteman and de Vogel 2003; The Orchids of Mount Kinabalu Vol 1 Wood, Beaman, Lamb & Lun 2011 photo fide; Philippine Native Orchid Species Cootes 2011 photo fide; The Orchids of Mount Kinabalu Vol 2 Wood, Beaman, Lamb, Chu Lun and Beaman 2011 photo fide; Malesian Orchid Journal Vol 7 2011 photo/drawing fide; Wild Orchids of Penninsular Malaysia Ong, O'Byrne, Yong & Saw 2011 photo fide; A to Z of South East Asian Orchid Species Vol 2 O'Byrne 2011 photo fide; The Genus Calanthe Clayton & Cribb 2013 drawing/photo fide; Malesian Orchid Journal Vol 17 2016 as Styloglossum pulchrum photo fide;

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