Cypripedium elegans Rchb.f. 1886 SECTION Retinervia
Photo by © Naresh Swami and his The Orchids of the Sikkim-Himalaya by Naresh Swami March 28, 2019 Facebook page
Photo by © Czech Orchid Website
LATE
EARLY 
Common Name The Elegant Cypripedium - In China Ya Zhi Shao Lan
Flower Size .5" [1.25 cm]
Found in the western Himalayas, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, eastern Himalayas and northwestern Yunnan and southern Xizang provinces of China on steep slopes in humus rich areas in forests or in thickets at elevations of 2400 to 4000 meters as a mini-miniature to miniature sized, cold growing terrestrial with a creeping rhizome giving rise to an erect, densely white-villous stem with 2, tubular, basal sheaths and carrying 2, subopposite, spreading, ovate, laxly pubescent all over, 3 veined obscure above, prominent below, sessile leaves that blooms in the late spring and early summer on an erect, .8 to 1.6" [2 to 4 cm] long, single flowered, villose inflorescence with erect, puberulous, ovate, much longer than the ovary floral bract.
Synonyms Coelogyne elegans Rchb.f. 1886 spalm
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 drawing good; Indian Orchids: Guide to Identification and Culture Pradhan 1976 drawing Orchids of Kumaun Himalayas Pangtey, Samant and Rawat 1991; Native Orchids of China in Colour Singchi, Zhanhuo and Yibo 1999 photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 40 pg 2492 - 2564 Brieger 2000; Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007; AOS Bulletin Vol 77 No 2 2008 photo fide; 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 drawing fide; LANKESTERIANA 15(1): 7—50. Jeewan Singh Jalal & J. Jayanthi 2015 photo fide; Atlas of Native Orchids of China Vol 1 Jin Xiaohua, Li Jianwu and Ye Deping 2019 photo fide
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