Pitcher Cobra Lily is a very interesting plant, with a mottled reddish-brown
spathe, resembling a cobra about to strike. The slender spathe is upheld
on a striped and speckled stem that has the quality of snake-skin. The
spathe is wide-mouthed and open, offering a good view of the spadix, which
holds the actual flowers. Spathe is triangular-ovate, curved forward, and
with prominent, rounded spreading lobes on the sides, at the base of the
blade at its junction with the spathe tube. Leaves are usual 2, digitately
compound, with 5 or more thick, glossy, narrow elliptic leaflets 6-12 cm.
The leaf stalk mottled with pink and brown, like the flower. Pitcher Cobra Lily is
found in the Eastern side of the Himalayas, from C. Nepal to SW China, at
altitudes of 2000-3300 m. A postal stamp was issued by the Indian Postal
Department to commemorate this flower. Flowering: April-June.
Identification credit: Nongthombam Ullysess
Photographed in Fambong Lho Wildlife Sanctuary, Sikkim.
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The flower labeled Pitcher Cobra Lily is ...