Asian Ladies-Tresses is a terrestrial orchid up to 30
cm tall, with linear to linear-lanceshaped leaves, and inflorescence
velvet-hairy. Flowers are borne in a nearly one-sided to moderately
tightly coiled spiral, bell-shaped, held perpendicular to the
flower-cluster-stalk, white to deep magenta-red. Sepals are
velvet-hairy. Dorsal sepal slightly to moderately upwardly recurved
distally, lanceshaped, bluntly tapering, 4.2-5.6 mm long, 1.1-1.6 mm
wide when flattened. Lateral sepals are lanceshaped, pointed, slightly
oblique at about halfway down the length, the tips often surpassing the
lip margin in profile, 3.3-6.8 mm long, 1-1.7 mm wide. Petals are
lanceshaped, bluntly pointed, slightly to strongly recurved at tips,
with the dorsal sepal appearing star-shaped. Lip is recurved downward
at about two-thirds the distance from the claw to lip tip, oblong to
slightly constricted near the reflextion and then dilating below,
centrally papillate, margin entire to slightly undulating from he base
until the area of recurvature, below point of recurvature margin
becoming ruffled and lacerate. Lip is 3.4-4.4 mm long, 1.8-3.7 mm wide
below the callosities, 1.2-2.3 mm wide at the area of recurvature when
flattened, 1.2-2.3 mm wide at widest point below recurvature. Column is
white dorsally, green ventrally, 1.7-3.0 mm long, stout. Asian
Ladies-Tresses is found throughout Asia, from Siberia in the north to
Australia down south.
Identification credit: Ashutosh Sharma
Photographed in Shillong, Meghalaya & Dhanaulti, Uttarakhand.
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The flower labeled Asian Ladies-Tresses is ...