Gastrochilus distichus - Two-Ranked Belly-Lip Orchid

Two-Ranked Belly-Lip Orchid is a small sized, cool to cold, pendant growing epiphyte with slender, clustered, pendant, branched stems enveloped by leaf bearing sheaths. The stems carry several, 2-ranked, narrowly lanceshaped, fleshy, long-pointed, stalkless leaves. The plant blooms in spring on a leaf opposed, hairess. slender, raceme-like, 2-4 flowered, more or less sigmoid-shaped inflorescence with 2 distant, lanceolate, basally tubular bracts and oblong, subacute floral bracts. Flowers are pale green, with reddish brown spots. Sepals are similar, usually concave, oblong-elliptic, 4.5-5 × 2.5-3 mm, apex obtuse. Petals are somewhat obovate, slightly smaller than sepals, tip blunt, lip with an epichile and a saccate hypochile. Epichile is nearly suborbicular, about 3 × 5 mm, adaxially hairless, with a central cushion, near base with 2 conic calli, entire, obtuse at apex. Hypochile is subcupular, about 4 mm tall, 2-3 mm in diameter, apex rounded. Two-Ranked Belly-Lip Orchid is found in the eastern Himalayas, Nepal and China in shade on moss covered trees in dense rain forests at elevations of 1520-2700 m.