FoI
Lanceleaf Herminum
Share Foto info
Lanceleaf Herminum
ative Photo: Pankaj Kumar
Common name: Lanceleaf Herminum
Botanical name: Herminium lanceum    Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Ophrys lancea, Satyrium lanceum, Spiranthes lancea

Lanceleaf Herminum is a terrestrial orchid found in the Himalayas, from Uttarakhand to NE India. Plants are slender, 0.5-2 ft tall. Stem is leafy. Leaves are 2-3, linear, up to 20 cm long, 1.5 cm wide. Inflorescence is very long and narrow, up to 25 cm long, 0.7-1 cm broad, with flowers arranged about almost on one side only. Flowers are numerous, deflexed, green. Bracts are linear-lanceolate, long pointed, exceeding ovary. Dorsal sepal is elliptic-oblong, 3.2 x 1.6 mm, forming a loose hood with linear, one-nerved petals. Lateral sepals are spreading 3.0 x 1.2 mm. Petals are 3.0 x 0.4 mm. Labellum is longer than sepals, linear, constricted in the middle, tip being trifid, side-lobes variable in length but always longer than the small, triangular midlobe, straight or slightly curved inwards. Flowering: July-August.

Identification credit: Pankaj Kumar Photographed in Dhanaulti, Uttarakhand.

• Is this flower misidentified? If yes,