Calanthe whiteana - Green Calanthe

Green Calanthe is a large sized, terrestrial orchid with conic pseudobulbs enveloped by leaf sheaths and carrying usually 3, not well developed at blooming, almost erect, not deciduous, sword-shaped to narrowly oblong-inverted-lanceshaped, pointed leaved, gradually narrowing below into the stalk-like, pseudostem base. It is named for Reverend White (1800s), a Christian chaplain in Singapore. The plant blooms in the later spring on an erect, in leaf-axils, stout, finely velvet-hairy, to 70 cm long, 10-20 flowered inflorescence with 1 to 2, tubular sheaths and persistent, reflexed, narrowly lanceshaped, sparsely finely velvet-hairy floral bracts. Flowers are pale yellow to yellowish green, turning black when dried; flower-stalk and ovary about 1 cm, finely velvet-hairy. Dorsal sepal is reflexed, ovate-lanceshaped, 9-10 x 3.5-4 mm, tip blunt; lateral sepals reflexed, ovate, oblique, 9-10 x 4.5-5 mm, tip blunt. Petals are narrowly elliptic or ovate-lanceshaped, 8-9 x 2.5-3 mm, midvein prominent, tip blunt; lip yellowish white, kidney-shaped, about 5 x 13 mm. Spur is cylindric, 8-10 x about 1.3 mm. Green Calanthe is found in NE India to China and N. Indo-China. Flowering: May-June.