Necklace Orchid is an orchid growing on trees,
with crowded pseudobulbs and clustered roots. Pseudobulbs are 4-6 cm
long, oblong-conical, tetragonous, with large deciduous sheathing
scales. Leaves are 1-2 from the tip of pseudobulb, 14-25 x 3.2-5.5 cm,
elliptic-inverted-lanceshaped, base narrowed, tip pointed or blunt,
leathery, strongly 3-nerved. Racemes drooping, in leaf-axils, 20-27 cm
long. Flowers are pinkish-white, hidden by overlapping leaf-like
persistent bracts; bracts up to 6 x 5 mm, ovate-blunt. Sepals are
subequal, to 7 x 5 mm, ovate, tip blunt or pointed, 3-nerved. Petals
are up to 6 x 2.5 mm, linear-oblong. Lip to 8 x 8 mm, deeply saccate,
sac longitudinally 3-ridged within, 3-lobed, mid-lobe bifid. Column
round-ovate, winged. Anthers 2-loculed, pollinia 4. Capsule is
ellipsoid, drooping. Necklace Orchid is found in the Himalayas, at
altitudes of 600-2900 m, from Kumaun to Bhutan, Western Ghats, Ceylon,
Burma, W. China, Malaysia, Australia. Flowering: July-September.
Medicinal uses: Pseudobulbs are eaten in rheumatic diseases, and
are also believed to ve useful in flatulence and stomach disorders.
The extract mixed with mustard oil is applied to swelling joints and is
also considered useful in lumbago.