Volume 12 > Part 1 > Year 2011 > Page 179 > Orchidaceae > Ludisia

Ludisia discolor (Ker Gawl.) Blume

Fl. Javae Nov. Ser.: 95, t. 42D. 1858 (1859?); Coll. Orchid.: 113, t. 42D. 1859; Seidenf., Bot. Tidsskr. 67: 99, fig. 20. 1972; Dansk Bot. Ark. 32(2): 32, fig. 13. 1978; Opera Bot. 114: 29, t. IIIa. 1992; Seidenf. & J.J.Wood, Orchids Penins. Malays. Singap.: 63, fig. 22, t. 2a. 1992; Thaithong, Thai Orchids [in Thai]: 63. 2000; J.B.Comber: Orchids Sumatra: 70. 2001; Ormerod, Lindleyana 17:211. 2002; Pridgeon et al., Gen. Orchid. 3: 116, 118, fig. 152.1, t. 34–35. 2003; Sitthisajjadham, Wild Orchids Thail. [in Thai]: 316. 2006; Nanakorn & Watthana, QSBG (Thai Native Orchids 2): 142. 2008; S.C.Chen et al. in Z.Y. Wu et al. (eds), Fl. China 25: 55. 2009.— Goodyera discolor Ker Gawl., Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 4: t. 271. 1818.— Haemaria discolor (Ker Gawl.) Lindl., Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 490. 1840; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 6: 101. 1890; Seidenf. & Smitinand, Orchids Thail.: 79. 1959. [For additional synonyms, see Ormerod, op. cit.). Fig. 104; Plate XIV: 2.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Flowering shoots (6–)9–28 cm tall. Foliage leaves 3–7, crowded on the lower part of the stem, dark olive-green with whitish to copper-red variegation above, uniformly green to purplish underneath; petiole (including sheath) 0.8–3.4 cm long; lamina ovate to oblong, acuminate to obtuse, apiculate, 0.8–8.5 by 0.5–4 cm. Inflorescence broadly cylindric to secund, lax, pubescent; rachis (0.8–)1.7–9 cm long; bracts suberect to spreading, boat-shaped, (triangular-)ovate, acuminate, shorter than or subequal to the ovaries, 1-veined, 7–15 by 4.3–9.5 mm. Flowers 2–18, subsessile, predominantly white (anther bright yellow). Sepals glabrous; dorsal sepal suberect (to porrect over the column), boat-shaped, ovate, obtuse, 7.7–10.4 by 4.5–6.5 mm: lateral sepals spreading, obliquely elliptic, obtuse to rounded, 8.9–12 by 4.9–7.1 mm. Petals falcately (linear-) lanceolate, obtuse to rounded, 8–10.8 by 1.6–2.5 mm. Labellum sometimes indented along the mid-line of the hypochile; mesochile channelled, entire; epichile transversely rectangular, 3.2–3.3 times wider than long. Column porrect (more or less continuing the line of the ovary), 4–7 mm long; anther caudate in front, 4–4.5 mm long. Ovary 8–16.5 mm long. Capsule suberect, short-pedicelled, fusiform, pubescent, 1.2–1.6 cm long, 0.3–0.6 cm in diameter.

Thailand : SOUTH-EASTERN: Chanthaburi; PENINSULAR: Chumphon, Surat Thani, Phangnga (Takua Thung), Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung (Tamot), Trang (Khao Chong), Satun, Songkhla, Pattani (Sai Khao Falls), Yala, Narathiwat (Khao Sam Nak).

Distribution : Myanmar, S China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Peninsular Malaysia, W Indonesia (Sumatra, Anambas, Bunguran), the Philippines. Type locality uncertain (“Brazil”), probably S China.

Ecology : Moist granite or limestone rocks, usually along streams, in tropical rain forests (rarely hill evergreen forests); 20–7000(–1,100) m alt. Flowering: recorded in May and July–February (the main flowering season is in November–February).

Vernacular : Phak bia chang (ผักเบี้ยช้าง), wan nana thong (ว่านน้ำทอง), wan ron thong (ว่านร่อนทอง).

Notes: The combination of a white ovary and a twisted column with a bright yellow anther effectively distinguishes this species from all other members of the Orchidoideae in Thailand.