FoI
Birch Luisia
Share Foto info
Birch Luisia
P Native Photo: P.S. Sivaprasad
Common name: Birch Luisia
Botanical name: Luisia birchea    Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Luisia tenuifolia Hook.f., Birchea teretifolia A. Rich.

Birch Luisia is an orchid up to 40 cm tall, growing on trees. Leaves are 15-25 cm long, 2 mm wide, linear, blunt. Flowers are brownish, in leaf-axils, solitary; dorsal sepal 9.5 x 4 mm, oblong-lanceshaped, blunt, keeled, 3-veined; lateral sepals oblong-lanceshaped, blunt, keeled, 3-veined. Petals are linear, somewhat pointed, blunt, 3-veined; lip 16 x 7 mm, elliptic-oblong, tip 2-lobed, with 2 lateral smaller, fleshy ridges on the lip. Birch Luisia is found in Peninsular India and Sri Lanka. Flowering: July-September.

Identification credit: P.S. Sivaprasad Photographed in Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Idukki distt, Kerala.

• Is this flower misidentified? If yes,