Eulophia graminea - Grass Eulophia

Grass Eulophia is a terrestrial orchid with many linear-lanceshaped, grass-like, persistent leaves. Flowering stems are lateral, exceeding the leaves, slender, up to 60-80 cm long, with scattered, broadly ovate, about 1 cm long sheaths. Inflorescence is lax, branched. Bracts are lanceshaped, long-pointed, 5-8 mm long. Flowers are spreading, greenish with darker purple, netted veins. Sepals are lanceshaped, long-pointed. Petals are somewhat broader, pointed. Lip is 1.2 cm long, 3-lobed. Side-lobes are pale green to purplish, small, triangular-oblong, blunt. Mid lobe is pale rose, round, with wavy margins. Disk in the center between side-lobes with 3-5 purple nerves, getting densely frilly on mid-lobe. Spur is cylindric, 3-4 mm long, slightly dilated at the tip. Column is 4-5 mm long. Ovary is hairless, with equally long, hardly twisted stalk. Ripe seed-capsule is enlarged. It is found in the Eastern Himalayas, at altitudes of 900-1200 m, eastwards to Burma, Thailand, Malaya, also Sri Lanka, Nikobar Islands, Phillipines, Taiwan. Flowering: March-May.