Malaxis aphylla (King & Pantl.) Tang & F.T.Wang 1951 SECTION Crepidium

Drawing by © Pradhan

LATE

Common Name The Leafless Malaxis

Flower Size .08 to .12" [2 to 3mm]

Found in the eastern Himalayas at elevations around 300 to 400 meters as a miniature to small sized, hot growing mycoheterotrophic terrestrial with a globose tuber giving rise to an erect stem with a few distant bracts that blooms in the late spring on a 2.8 to 4" [7 to 10 cm] long, laxly several flowered inflorescence with numerous, lanceolate, deflexed to the rachis, as long as the ovary floral bracts carrying yellow flushed with purple flowers.

Synonyms Crepidium aphyllum (King & Pantl.) A.N.Rao 2000; *Microstylis aphylla King & Pantl. 1898

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 as Microstylis aphylla drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 48 #3 1979 as Microstylis aphylla; Indian Orchids, Guide to Identification and Culture vol 2 Pradhan 1979 drawing fide; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002;

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------