Nephelaphyllum cordifolium (Lindl.) Blume 1858
Plant and Flower Photos by © Dr de Vogel and The ORCHIS Website
Drawing Darwing by © Susanna Stuart-Smith
Common Name The Heart-Shaped Leaf Nephelaphyllum
Flower Size .6 to .8" [1.5 to 2 cm]
Found in Bangladesh, Assam and the eastern Himalayas at elevations around 1500 meters as a small sized, cool growing terrestrial with a fleshy creeping rhizome giving rise to elongate pseudobulbs carrying a single, apical, ovate-cordate, acute, 5 veined, green mottled with purple, petiolate base leaf that blooms in the spring on a terminal, erect, glabrous, 3.6 to 4.4" [9 to 11 cm] long, laxly 3 to 6 flowered inflorescence with linear, caducous floral bracts.
CAUTION There is very little out there on this species that is available to me. I have tried to find an orchid that matches Pearce & Cribb's drawing in Orchids of Bhutan as it appears to be different than what I consider N pulchrum, but all references available to me are not consistent. Both the orchids above were cited as N tenuiflorum. If anyone can help sort out this mess pleases let me know.
Synonyms *Cytheris cordifolia Lindl. 1831; Tainia cordifolia (Lindl.) Gagnep.1932
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 drawing fide; Indian Orchids, Guide to Identification and Culture vol 2 Pradhan 1979 drawing fide; Die Orchideen Band 3 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas Liferung #14 820 - 880 1984; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002 drawing fide; Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
