Cypripedium himalaicum Rolfe ex Hemsl 1892 SECTION Cypripedium SUBSECTION Macrantha
Photo by The Alpine Garden Website
Photo courtesy of Carson Whitlow and his Orchid Mall
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Common Name The Himalayan Cypripedium - In China Gao Shan Shao Lan
Flower Size 3" [7.5 cm]
Found in Xizang province of China, , eastern Himalayas, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and the western Himalayas as a small sized, cold to cool growing terrestrial in thin stony soils in open woodland clearings, under small shrubs on steep hillsides, among grass-clad limestone boulders in crevasses at elevations of 2000 to 5000 meters with a short, erect, sparsely pubescent stem provided with several basal sheaths and carrying 3 to 4, deciduous, ovate-elliptic to oblong, acute, slightly pubescent on upper surface, glabrous underneath leaves that blooms in the late spring and summer on a erect, pubescent, single flowered, to 8" [20 cm] long inflorescence with foliaceous, narrowly ellipticto narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate longer than the ovary floral bracts and carrying waxy, brittle, very fragrant flowers.
Synonyms Cypripedium macranthum var. himalaicum (Rolfe ex Hemsl.) Kraenzl. 1897
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 drawing good; The Orchids of North-Western Himalaya Vol IX Part II Duthie 1906; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 4 193 to 256 Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1971 photo ok; Indian Orchids: Guide to Identification and Culture Pradhan 1976 drawing fide; Orchids of Kumaun Himalayas Pangtey, Samant and Rawat 1991; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 40 pg 2492 - 2564 Brieger 2000; Beautiful Orchids of Nepal Rajbhandari & Bhattarai 2001; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002; 100 Sikkim Himalayan Orchids Pradhan 2005 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 76 #11 2007 photo fide; Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007 drawing ok; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009; Flora of China Vol 25 Illustrations Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2010 drawing ok; 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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