Cymbidium hookerianum Rchb. f. 1866 SECTION Cyperorchis Hunt 1970

Photo by Eric Hunt

To LATE EARLY

Common Name Hooker's Cymbidium [English Botanist 1800's] - In China Hu Tou Lan

Flower Size to 5 3/5" [to 14 cm]

Found in Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim on steep banks in dense, damp forests or evergreen-oak forests often where thick moss occurs at elevations of 1500 to 2600 meters as a medium to large sized, cold to cool growing epiphyte or lithophyte with ovoid, elongate, bilaterally flattened pseudobulbs carrying linear-elliptic, acute, leaves that are articulate 1.6 to 4" [4 to 10 cm] from the pseudobulb that blooms in the late winter and early spring on a very stout, sheathed below, arching to pendant, slightly flattened, to 2 1/2' [75 cm] long, apically racemose inflorescence with triangular floral bracts and carrying 6 to 15, mostly nodding, extremely fragrant, long-lasting flowers.

Synonyms Cymbidium giganteum var. hookerianum [Rchb.f] Bois 1893; Cymbidium grandiflorum Griff. 1851; Cymbidium grandiflorum var punctatum Cogn 1893; Cymbidium hookerianum var hookerianum Wu & Chen 1980; Cyperorchis grandiflora (Sw.) Schltr. 1924

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 as C grandiflorum drawing fide; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as C grandiflorum; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1961 as C grandiflorum drawing good; AOS Bulletin No 2 1963 as C grandifolium photo ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 32 No 11 1963 as C grandiflorum photo fide; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as C grandiflorum; Orchid Digest Vol 42 No 4 1978 photo fide as C grandiflorum; Indian Orchids Guide to Identification and Culture Vol 2 Pradhan 1979 photo fide; Opera Botanica #72 Orchid Genera in Thailand XI Cymbidiaeae Seidenfaden 1983 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 54 No 3 1985; Orchids of Kumaun Himalayas Pangtey, Samant and Rawat 1991; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 25 1520 - 1584 Brieger 1991; The Manual of Cultivated Orchids Bechtel, Cribb, Launert 1992 photo fide; Wild Orchids of China Tsi, Chen Mori 1997; Native Orchids of China in Colour Singchi, Zhanhuo and Yibo 1999 photo fide; Beautiful Orchids of Nepal Rajbhandari & Bhattarai 2001; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002 photo fide; 100 Sikkim Himalayan Orchids Pradhan 2005 photo fide; The Genus Cymbidium Du Puy & Cribb 2007 photo/drawing fide; Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007; Native Orchids From Gaoligongshan Maountains, China Xiaohua, Xiaodong and Xiaochun 2009 photo fide; A Field Guide to the Orchids of China Singchi, Zhongjian, Yibo, Xiaohua and Zhanhuo 2009 photo fide; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009; Flora of China Vol 25 Illustrations Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2010 fide; The Wild Orchids in Yunnan Xu Xiang Ye & Liu 2010 photos fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 80 #6 2011 pollinia only photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 76 #3 2012 photo fide; LANKESTERIANA 15(1): 7—50. Jeewan Singh Jalal & J. Jayanthi 2015 excluded taxa; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 # 11 2017 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Supplement Cymbidiums Vol 87 #10 2018 photo fide; Atlas of Native Orchids of China Vol 2 Jin Xiaohua, Li Jianwu and Ye Deping 2019 photo fide;

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