!Nephelaphyllum pulchrum Blume 1825

Photo by © Sabah Tabin Widlife Reserve Website

Plant and Flower in situ Mt Kinabalu Borneo

Photo by Copyright © Rogier Van Vugt and His PBase Orchid Photo Website

Another Flower

Photo by © Art Vogel

Full shade HotCoolSpringand Summer

Common Name The Beautiful Nephelaphyllum In China

Flower Size 1" [2.5 cm]

Found in Malaysia, Java, Sumatra, Borneo and the Philippines in damp shady places in mixed forests and lower montane and oak/laurel forests as a miniature sized, hot to cool growing terrestrial orchid occuring at elevations of 300 to 2000 meters with a creeping, fleshy rhizome carrying closely spaced, fleshy, cylindrical pseudobulbs carrying a single, apical, erect, ovate-triangular to cordate, acute to obtuse, variegated dark and light green, flushed with purple leaves that blooms in the spring and summer on an erect, 4 to 6" [10 to 25 cm] long, very densely several [3 to 7] flowered, racemose inflorescence with the flowers held in an apical head.

CAUTION The first photo matches Comber's Orchids of Sumatra and Woods Orchids of Mt Kinabalu photos exacly and the first and second photo match Seidenfaden's Malaysia drawing closely, the other 2 photos show a more cowl-like unlobed lip and does not comform and they all could be N flabellatum. The fith photo conforms to the written descrition by Seidenfaden in 1965. I await more information. Many references cite this species as being variable in flower form and these may be within the parameters of the species.

Synonyms Anoectochilus pulcher (Blume) Rollisson 1875; Nephelaphyllum borneense Schltr. 1906; Nephelaphyllum latilabre Ridl. 1893; Nephelaphyllum pulchrum var. sikkimensis Hook.f. 1890; Nephelaphyllum sikkimensis (Hook.f.) Karth. 1989; Tainia borneensis (Schltr.) Gagnep 1932; Tainia latilabris (Ridl.) Gagnep. 1932; Tainia pulchra [Bl.]Gagnep. 1932

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Xenia Orchidaceae Rchb.f 1854 drawing fide; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1857; The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 drawing fide to the first photo; Die Orchideen Von Java J.J.Sm. 1905; Die Orchideen Von Java Figuren Atlas J.J.Smith 1908 drawing fide; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 photo good; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 drawing fide to Vogel's photo; Flora of Malaya Vol 1 Holttum 1957; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1959; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1965 corrections drawing fide to the fifth photo by Art Vogel; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1965 corrections as N cf latilabre; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 as N latilabre drawing fide to the first photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 4 1979 as N pulchrum var sikkimense photo good; Indian Orchids, Guide to Identification and Culture vol 2 Pradhan 1979 as N pulchrum var sikkimense drawing fide; The Complete Writings on Philippine Orchids Vol 1 Quisumbing 1981; AOS Bulletin Vol 52 No 4 1983 photo fide to Another Flower Color photo above; Orchidiana Philipiniana Vol 1 Valmayor 1984; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas # 43-46 Thuniinae etc 1984 drawing/photo ok; Die Orchideen Band 3 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas Liferung #14 820 - 880 1984 as N borneense; Die Orchideen Band 3 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas Liferung #14 820 - 880 1984 as N latilabre; AOS Bulletin Vol 56 No 2 1987 as N sp. photo fide; Orchids of Java Comber 1990 photo fide; The Orchids Of Penninsular Malaysia and Singapore Seidenfaden & Wood 1992 drawing/photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 drawing fide to first photo; The Plants of Mount Kinabalu Vol 2 Orchids Beaman, Wood, Beaman & Beaman 1993 photo fide to the 1st photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 63 No 11 1994 photo fide; A Checklist of the Orchids of Borneo Wood & Cribb 1994 as N borneense; A Checklist of the Orchids of Borneo Wood & Cribb 1994; A Checklist of the Orchids of Borneo Wood & Cribb 1994 as Tainia borneense -see porly know taxa; Identification of the Orchids [Orchidaceae Juss.] Vietnam Averyanov 1994; AOS Bulletin Vol 66 #6 1997 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 66 #6 1997 as N latilabre photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 66 #6 1997 as N pulchrum var sikkimense; Orchids of Sumatra Comber 2001 photo fide; A field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Thailand Vaddhanaphuti 2001 photo ok to the 3rd photo; Orchids of Sarawak Beeman & Wood 2001 photo fide; The Orchids of The Philippines Cootes 2001 photo fide; A to Z of South East Asian Orchid Species Vol 1 O'Byrne 2001 photo ok; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 42 - 43 pg 2626 - 2762 Brieger 2001 as N sikkimense; Flora Malesiana Orchids of the Philippines Vol I Agoo, Shuiteman and de Vogel 2003; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002; 100 Sikkim Himalayan Orchids Pradhan 2005 photo fide; The Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007 drawing ok; AOS Bulletin Vol 78 No 1 2009 photo fide; Wild Orchids of the Cameron Highlands REACH 2009 photo fide; A Field Guide to the Orchids of China Singchi, Zhongjian, Yibo, Xiaohua and Zhanhuo 2009 photo fide to the second photo; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009; Mille et Une Mini Orchideees Roguenant 2009 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 79 #9 2010 photo fide; The Orchids of Mount Kinabalu Vol 1 Wood, Beaman, Lamb, Chu Lun and Beaman 2011 drawing/photo fide to the first photo; The Orchids of Mount Kinabalu Vol 2 Wood, Beaman, Lamb, Chu Lun and Beaman 2011; Wild Orchids of Penninsular Malaysia Ong, O'Byrne, Yong & Saw 2011 photo fide to the 2nd and third; A Century of New Orchid Records in Bhutan Royal Government of Bhutan 2017 drtawing/photo fide; Atlas of Native Orchids of China Vol 2 Jin Xiaohua, Li Jianwu and Ye Deping 2019 photo fide;

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