!Dimorphorchis lowii (Benth. & Hook. f.) Rolfe 1919
Photo by © Eric Hunt
Photo by Weyman Bussey, Plant grown by Petite Plaisance Orchids
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Common Name Low's Dimorphorchis [English Discoverer of Species 1800's]
Flower Size 3" and more [7.5 cm+]
This monopodial, large sized, hot to warm growing, epiphytic species is found in Borneo, especially Sarawak in hill and lower montane forests in gullies and ravines in tall trees often overhanging water at elevations of sea-level to 1800 meters with long pendant, stout, stems carrying ligulate, unequally bilobed at the apex leaves that are articulated to the sheathing leaf base and blooms in the fall and early winter on a pendant, to 12' [to 360 cm] long, laxly many flowered inflorescence with lanceolate bracts and has two distinctly different flowers on the same inflorescence. The basal flowers are strongly fragrant, are yellow with purple spots, with hairs on the outer surface, 2" tall and 2 2/5" across, and has the sepals and petals overlapping. The apical flowers have yellow with large, maroon blotches, 2 2/5" tall and 2 1/2" across, with the sepals and petals separated and having undulate margins as well as being hairy on the outer surface.
Synonyms Arachnanthe lowii (Lindl.) Benth. & Hook. f. 1889; Arachnis lowii Rchb. f.1886; Renanthera lowii Rchb. f. 1854; *Vanda lowii Lindl. 1847; Vandopsis lowii (Lindl.) Schltr. 1911
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1854 as Renanthera lowei; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as Vandopsis lowii; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 as Arachnis lowii drawing fide; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 37 No 8 1968 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 44 No 5 1980 photo/drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 46 No 1 1982 photo fide; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 21 1165 - 1328 Brieger 1988 drawing ok; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Laurent 1992 drawing fide; The Plants of Mount Kinabalu Vol 2 Orchids Beaman, Wood, Beaman & Beaman 1993; Phylogeny and Classification of the Orchid Family Dressler 1993 photo fide; Orchids of Borneo Vol 1 Chan, Lamb, Shim & Wood 1994 drawing/photo fide; A Checklist of the Orchids of Borneo Wood & Cribb 1994; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 42 - 43 pg 2626 - 2762 Brieger 2001; AOS Bulletin Vol 73 No 7 2004 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 74 No 8 2005 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 72 No 3 2008 photo fide; Malesian Orchid Journal Vol 2 2008 drawing/photo fide; AOS Bulletin vol 78 No 9 2009 photo fide; The Orchids of Mount Kinabalu Vol 1 Wood, Beaman, Lamb, Chu Lun and Beaman 2011 drawing/photo fide; The Orchids of Mount Kinabalu Vol 2 Wood, Beaman, Lamb, Chu Lun and Beaman 2011; A to Z of South East Asian Orchid Species Vol 2 O'Byrne 2011 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 78 #1 2014 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #1 2016 photos fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 84 #11 2015 photo fide;
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