Thelasis pygmaea (Griff.) Lindl. 1859 SUBGENUS Thelasis
Photo by © Peter O'Byrne, and The Swiss Orchid Foundaqtion a the Jany Renz Herbaria Website
Photos by © Peter O'Byrne, Jaap Vermeulen, Dr. E.F. de Vogel and André Schuiteman and Their Netherlands National Herbarium Website
Common Name or Meaning The Tiny Thelasis - In China Ai Zhu Lan
Flower Size .08" [1.7 mm]
Found in China, Taiwan, Assam, eastern Himalayas, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Andaman Islands, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Borneo, Java, Lesser Sunda Islands, Malaysia, Moluccas, the Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Bismark archipelago, Solomon Islands and New Guinea by rivers on tree trunks and in old mangroves as well as hill and lower to upper montane forests at elevations of 200 to 2600 meters as a mini-miniature sized, hot to warm growing epiphyte with a freely branching rhizome giving rise to round yet flattened, thin necked, fleshy pseudobulbs enveloped below partially by a small sheath carrying a smaller leaf and carrying a 1 to 2, apical, narrowly lanceolate, unequally, obtusely bilobed, gradually narrowing below into the base leaf with the 2nd one always being smaller, that blooms in the winter, spring and summer on an elongating, horizontal, to 4.4" [11 cm] long, successively few, many flowered inflorescence with 2 small sheaths spread out along the length and a gradually extending rachis with only 3 to 4 flowers open at any one time, all arranged in a short conical head.
Synonyms *Euproboscis pygmaea Griff. 1845; Thelasis amboinensis (J.J.Sm.) J.J.Sm. 1914; Thelasis clausa Fukuy. 1935; Thelasis elongata Blume 1856; Thelasis elongata var. amboinensis J.J.Sm. 1905; Thelasis hongkongensis Rolfe 1896; Thelasis pygmaea var. multiflora Hook.f. 1890; Thelasis triandra Blume 1858; Thelasis triptera Rchb.f. 1855; Thelasis zollingeri Rchb.f. 1857
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1855 as T triptera; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1857 as T zollingeri; Orchids of Burma Grant 1895/1995; The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 drawing ok; Die Orchideen Von Java J.J.Sm. 1905 as T elongata; Die Orchideen Von Java Figuren Atlas J.J.Smith 1908 as T elongata drawing ok; Studies in the Family Orchidaceae Fascile 2 Ames 1908 as T elongata; Orchidaceae of German New Guinea Schlechter 1913; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1961 as T triptera drawing ok; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1965 corrections as T triptera; Indian Orchids, Guide to Identification and Culture vol 2 Pradhan 1979 drawing ok; The Complete Writings on Philippine Orchids Vol 1 Quisumbing 1981 as T triptera; Orchidiana Philipiniana Vol 1 Valmayor 1984 as T triptera; Orchids of Java Comber 1990 photo fide; The Orchids of the Solomon Islands and Bougainville Lewis & Cribb 1991; The Orchids of Penninsular Malaysia and Singapore Wood & Seidenfaden 1992 drawing ok/photo ok; The Plants of Mount Kinabalu Vol 2 Orchids Beaman, Wood, Beaman & Beaman 1993; A Checklist of the Orchids of Borneo Wood & Cribb 1994;Identification of the Orchids [Orchidaceae Juss.] Vietnam Averyanov 1994; The Wild Orchids of China Tsi, Chen & Mori 1997; Native Orchids of China in Colour Singchi, Zhanhuo and Yibo 1999 photo fide; Lindleyana Vol 15 No 4 2000; Orchids of Sumatra Comber 2001 photo ok; Orchids of Sarawak Beaman, Wood & Beaman etal 2001; Lindleyana Vol 17 No 1 2002; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002; Flora Malesiana Orchids of the Philippines Vol I Agoo, Shuiteman and de Vogel 2003; A field Guide to the Wild Orchids of Thailand Vaddhanaphuti 2005 photo hmm; The Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007 drawing ok Flora Malesia Orchids of New Guinea Vol V 2008; A Field Guide to the Orchids of China Singchi, Zhongjian, Yibo, Xiaohua and Zhanhuo 2009 photo ok; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009; Flora of China Vol 25 Illustrations Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2010 drawing ok; The Atlas of Wild Orchids in Hainan Island, China Shenyan and Junmei 2010 photo plant only; The Wild Orchids in Yunnan Xu Xiang Ye & Liu 2010 photos fide; 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; The Wild Orchids of Hong Kong Barretto, Cribb and Gale 2011 drawing/photo fide; A to Z of South East Asian Orchid Species Vol 2 O'Byrne 2011 photo fide; Turczaninowia 16(4):26-46 NEW AND RARE ORCHIDS (ORCHIDACEAE) IN THE FLORA OF CAMBODIA AND LAOS Averyanov 2013 ; Orchid Digest Vol 80 #1 2016 photo fide; Turczaninowia 19 (3): 5–58 L. V. Averyanov, Khang Sinh Nguyen etal 2016 ; A Century of New Orchid Records in Bhutan Royal Government of Bhutan 2017 Drawing/photo fide; Atlas of Native Orchids of China Vol 2 Jin Xiaohua, Li Jianwu and Ye Deping 2019 photo fide;
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