Odontochilus lanceolatus - Lanceleaf Toothed-Lip Orchid

Lanceleaf Toothed-Lip Orchid is a miniature to medium sized, terrestrial orchid with an erect stem carrying 3-7, distant, ovate-lanceshaped, pointed, green with white reticulation above, stalked base leaves. The plant blooms in the summer and earlier fall on an erect, flower-cluster-stalk 4-6 cm long, velvet-hairy, provided with 1-2 sterile bracts, axis 4-6 cm long, laxly 3-10 flowered inflorescence. The inflorescence has ovate-lanceshaped, tapering floral bracts which are below hairless, fringed with hairs along the basal margin, slightly shorter than the ovary. Flowers are upside down, yellow; ovary and flower-stalk twisted, spindle-shaped, 9-10 mm, hairless. Sepals are yellowish green, hairless, 1-veined; dorsal sepal forming a hood with petals, ovate to ovate-oblong, boat-shaped, 4-6 x 3-4 mm; lateral sepals spreading, ovate-elliptic, oblique, 6-7.5 x 4-5 mm, tip pointed to slightly blunt. Petals are whitish green, ovate, strongly oblique, 4-6 x 2.5-4 mm, 1-veined. Lip is golden yellow, Y-shaped, 1.2-1.8 cm; hypochile slightly dilated, bisaccate, about 3 mm, containing a central longitudinal septum and 1 subulate, usually curved callus on either side; mesochile 4-6 mm, with a comb-like flange along either margin; flanges composed of 4-7 blunt teeth to about 2.5 mm; epichile transversely dilated, 2-lobed; lobes diverging widely, wedge-shaped-oblong to obovate, 5-6 x 4-4.5 mm, margin entire or slightly crenulate, tip flat. Lanceleaf Toothed-Lip Orchid is found in Nepal, Bhutan, NE India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, China, at altitudes of 800-2200 m. Flowering: June-September.