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Dusky Coelogyne
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Dusky Coelogyne
P Native Photo: R.K. Nimai
Common name: Dusky Coelogyne
Botanical name: Coelogyne fusca    Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Otochilus fuscus, Broughtonia fusca, Otochilus lancifolius

Dusky Coelogyne a small sized orchid growing on trees, with cylindric-spindle-shaped, wrinkled, drooping pseudobulbs arising from the tip of the previous pseudobulb and enveloped basally by fibrous sheaths. The pseudobulbs are greenish yellow or slightly tinged with brown when dry, and carry 2, linear-lanceshaped, tapering, plicate, stalked leaves. Leaves are linear-lanceshaped or nearly linear, 10-20 x 0.7-1.1 cm, tapering, with leaf-stalk 1.5-3 cm. Inflorescence, appearing before leaves, is nearly erect, with flower-cluster-stalk arching, usually 12-17 cm; axis 6-8 cm, laxly 10- to many flowered; floral bracts persistent, narrowly obovate-linear, 8-11 x 2.5-3 mm, papery, pointed. Flowers are fragrant, white or tinged with pale yellow, 1.4-1.6 cm in diameter. Flower-stalk and ovary 4-7 mm, slender. Dorsal sepal is oblong about 7-8 x 2 mm, blunt; lateral sepals slightly narrower and oblique. Petals are about 6.5 x 1.5 mm, 3-5-veined; lip 3-lobed; lateral lobes erose at tip, at distal side of their bases united by a transverse appendage; mid-lobe narrowly elliptic to nearly oblong, 4.5-5.5 x about 1.7 mm, base contracted and slightly clawed, tip tapering. Column is about 5 mm, slender, base slightly protruding, upper part winged. Capsules are obovoid-ellipsoid, 7-10 × 5-6 mm. Dusky Coelogyne is found from Nepal to Bhutan, NE India, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Yunnan, at altitudes of 1200-2100 m. Flowering: March-April.

Identification credit: R.K. Nimai Photographed in Manipur.

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