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Nilgiri Coelogyne
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Nilgiri Coelogyne
P Native Photo: P.S. Sivaprasad
Common name: Nilgiri Coelogyne
Botanical name: Coelogyne mossiae    Family: Orchidaceae (Orchid family)
Synonyms: Coelogyne glandulosa var. sathyanarayanae, Coelogyne glandulosa var. bournei

Nilgiri Coelogyne is an orchid growing on rocks, with rhizome creeping. It is named for Mrs. Thomas Moss; she and her husband were 19th century Orchid collectors in Aigburgth, near Liverpool. It has been much confused with Veined Coelogyne. Flowers are white, 3.5-4 cm across. Sepals and petals are blunt, petals clearly broader than lateral sepals. Lip is 1.7-2 cm long, ovate-oblong, with two keels. Coelogyne nervosa has 3 keels on the lip. Flower-stalk and ovary 1.2-1.5 cm long. Flowers are borne at branch-ends to new shoots, covered with leafy bracts. Floral bracts 3.5-4 x 0.8-1.2 cm, ovate lanceshaped, scarious. Pseudobulbs are 4-10 x 2-2.5 cm, ovoid-conical, smooth, longitudinally grooved, covered with ovate-lanceshaped bracts, 4-5 x 2.5-3 cm. Leaves are 2 per bulb, 10-14 x 3-4 cm, elliptic-lanceshaped, pointed at tip, narrowed at base; mid-rib and about 8 nerves prominent. Nilgiri Coelogyne is endemic to Nilgiri Hills, and is very rare.

Identification credit: P.S. Sivaprasad Photographed in Mukurthi National Park & Eravikulam National Park, Distt. The Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu.

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