Volume 12 > Part 2 > Year 2014 > Page 461 > Orchidaceae > Cymbidium

12. Cymbidium lowianum (Rchb.f.) Rchb.f.wfo-0000934506

Gard. Chron., n.s., 11: 332, 404, t. 56. 1879; Seidenf., Opera Bot. 72: 86, fig. 47, t. VIa. 1984; Du Puy & P.J.Cribb, Gen. Cymbidium: 207, fig. 115–118, 130(4), t. 24, map 29. 2007.— C. giganteum var. lowianum Rchb.f., Gard. Chron., n.s., 7: 685. 1877.— Cyperorchis lowiana (Rchb.f.) Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 20: 108. 1924.— Cymbidium hookerianum var. lowianum (Rchb.f.) Y.S.Wu & S.C.Chen, Acta Phytotax. Sin. 18: 303. 1980.Fig. 258; Plate XXXVII: 3.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Epiphytic or lithophytic herb. Pseudobulbs up to 13 by 5 cm, bilaterally flattened. Leaves about 9, sessile, up to 90 by 3.5 cm, linear-elliptic, acute. Inflorescence up to 100 cm or more long, suberect to horizontal arching; rachis bearing 12–30(–40) flowers; bracts ca 3 mm long. Flowers up to 10 cm across; not scented; sepals and petals bright apple-green to yellowish or off white, sometimes lightly shaded with red-brown; labellum yellowish to white, side lobes not marked, the mid-lobe with a sharply delimited, deep red, broad, V-shaped, submarginal patch, and a central red line to the ridge apices; the base of the labellum bright yellow or orange, spotted with red-brown; ridges cream or white, occasionally with a few red spots. Dorsal sepal 48–57 by 16–18 mm, narrowly obovate, acute, concave, porrect; lateral sepals similar, spreading. Petals 48–53 by 11–13 mm, ligulate to narrowly obovate, acute, curved, spreading. Labellum fused to the column base for 3–4.5 mm; side lobes 14–16 mm broad, triangular, apex rounded, margin not distinctly fringed, velvety hairy at the front; mid-lobe 14–18 by 15–21 mm, cordate, mucronate, porrect to deflexed, with the indumentum in 2 zones comprising silky hairs in the centre and base and dense velvety hairs on the V-shaped, coloured region, margin of the mid-lobe erose, minutely undulating; ornaments of 2 ridges, not reaching the base of the labellum, spreading behind, dilated at the apex, finely hairy. Column 30–35 mm long; pollinia 2. Capsule ca 6–8 by 3–4 cm, fusiform-ellipsoid.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai.

Distribution : NE and E Myanmar (type), S & W Yunnan; 1,200–2,000 m alt.

Ecology : On trees in damp shaded evergreen or mixed forests, often on Schima wallichii, or on shaded cliffs along valleys. Flowering: February–June.

Vernacular : Karekaron doi (กะเรกะร่อนดอย), karekaron pak nok kaeo (กะเรกะร่อนปากนกแก้ว)(Chiang Mai).