Phreatia elegans - Elegant Phreatia

Elegant Phreatia is a miniature to small sized, tree-dwelling orchid with a stout, more or less pseudobulbous stem carrying 1-3, linear-oblong to inverted-lanceshaped, blunt to retuse, disitichous leaves, narrowing below into the stalkless base. The plant blooms in the late summer on an erect to arching, hairless, lateral, 10-17 cm long, densely many flowered inflorescence with distant, lanceshaped, pointed bracts and ovate-oblong to obovate-oblong, tapering, single veined floral bracts. Flowers are white, 1-2 mm across, flower-stalk and ovary curved. Dorsal sepal triangular ovate, pointed, 1.5-2.1 x 0.6-1 mm; lateral sepals triangular, pointed, 1-2 x 0.4-0.6 mm, adnate to column foot. Petals are broadly ovate, pointed, 0.5-1 x 0.4-0.6 mm. Lip is fleshy, slightly triangular, margin weakly wavy, about 1 mm long, attached to base of column foot. Elegant Phreatia is found in East Himalaya, South India and Sri Lanka. Flowering: August.