Butterfly Orchid is an orchid found growing on
trees. Leaves are up to 10 x 0.2 cm, cylindrical. Flowers are borne in
racemes in leaf-axils, opposite the leaves, 2-5-flowered. Flowers are
fragrant, white, sometimes flushed with pale pink. Sepals are 12 x 8
mm, ovate, blunt at tip, fleshy. Petals are 12 x 8 mm, broadly ovate,
blunt, fleshy. Lip is yellow, 3-lobed, lobes equal, side lobes erect,
middle lobes recurved; spur 8 mm, conical, blunt at tip. Flower-stalks
with ovary is about 1.5 cm. Fruit is 4 cm long, slightly winged.
Butterfly Orchid is found in South India and Sri Lanka. Flowering:
February-April.
Identification credit: P.S. Sivaprasad
Photographed in Anamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu.
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The flower labeled Butterfly Orchid is ...