Coelogyne gardneriana - Drooping White Coelogyne

Drooping White Coelogyne is a small to medium sized, rock-dwelling or tree-dwelling orchid with ovoid-cylindric to conical pseudobulbs enveloped basally by a few overlapping sheaths and carrying 2, lanceshaped, pointed, pleated, yellow green above, paler below, stalked leaves. It is named for Hon. Edward Gardner, representing the East India Company in the early 19th century. The plant blooms in the fall on a basal, 22-40 cm long, erect then hanging, 6-12 flowered inflorescence arising on a almost to mature pseudobulb. Flowers are white, keels yellow; flower-stalk and ovary 1.5-1.8 cm. Sepals are nearly oblong, 40-45 x about 10 mm, below carinate, basal sac about 4 mm deep; lateral sepals with deeper basal sac. Petals are linear, 40-45 x 3-4 mm. Lip is obovate, 4-4.5 x about 2.5 cm, distally 3-lobed; lateral lobes nearly ovate, blunt-rounded; mid-lobe somewhat kidney-shaped, margin erose; disk with 2 or rarely 3 longitudinal lamellae extending from base to base of mid-lobe, occasionally with 5 lamellae at base; basal sac 4-5 mm deep. Drooping White Coelogyne is found in Nepal to Bhutan, NE India, China and SE Asia, at altitudes of 600-2200 m. Flowering: November-January.