Acampe praemorsa - Clipped Acampe

Acampe is a genus of seven orchid species distributed from tropical Africa to India, eastwards to China and southwards to Malaya, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea. The name Acampe was derived from the Greek word akampas, meaning "rigid", referring to the little, brittle, inflexible flowers. Clipped Acampe is a robust shrub growing on trees. Stem is stout, 20-50 cm high, with vermiform roots from basal nodes. Leaves are distichous, 12-20 x 2-3 cm, linear, sheathing at base, tip unequally 2-lobed, thick, leathery. Corymbs leaf-opposed; flower-cluster-stalk 3.5-5 cm long. Floral bracts scaly, broadly round, broader than long. Flowers 0.8-1 cm across; sepals and petals 0.8-1 x 0.3-0.5 cm,ovate-lanceshaped, creamy yellow with reddish-brown transverse bands, thick, fleshy. Lip about 8 x 4 mm, fleshy, creamy white with narrow red streaks, saccate at base, 3-lobed; lateral lobes small; mid-lobe ovate-blunt, margin crispate; spur short. Anther at branch-ends, 2-loculed; pollinia 2, spherical. Capsule to 4 cm long, cylindrical, ribbed. Clipped Acampe is found in Peninsular India, Sri Lanka and the Himalaya. Flowering: March-April.