Comb Trudelia is a forest orchid with stout stems that are 7.5-15 cm long.
It grows on other plants. Leathery recurved leaves, 7.5-12.5 cm long and
1.2-1.8 cm broad are borne in two ranks along the stem. The leaf tips
looked as if they have been torn off, with three irregular teeth. Short
inflorescences carry 2-6 waxy, fragrant flowers on long twisted stalks
close to the stem. The flowers are 4-5 cm across and have uniform yellow
to green, narrow incurved sepals and petals. The thick, fleshy prominent
lip is yellow, cream or white, striped with purple to maroon or red-brown.
Its tapered lip mid-lobe bears two slender elongate processes or horn-like
processes at the end, which look like tusks. Lip shape and color varies
greatly. Not only does it vary from flower to flower on the same
inflorescence but also markedly year to year on different flowerings of
the same plant. Comb Trudelia is found in the Himalayas, from Uttarakhand
to Arunachal Pradesh, at altitudes of 1000-2300 m. Flowering: May-June.
Identification credit: Pankaj Kumar
Photographed in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh & Gangtok, Sikkim.
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The flower labeled Comb Vanda is ...