Volume 12 > Part 2 > Year 2014 > Page 470 > Orchidaceae > Cymbidium

18. Cymbidium tigrinum C.S.P.Parish ex Hook.wfo-0000934657

Bot. Mag. 90: t. 5457. 1864; Seidenf., Opera Bot. 72: 90, fig. 51, t. VIIa. 1984; Du Puy & P.J.Cribb, Gen. Cymbidium: 250, fig. 95(6), 147–148, t. 32, map 40. 2007.— Cyperorchis tigrina (Parish ex Hook.) Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 20: 108. 1924. Fig. 263.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Lithophytic herb. Pseudobulb up to 3 by 3 cm, lens-shaped, with 2–6 distichous leaves and 4–5 cataphylls; the lower leaves and cataphylls deciduous; mature pseudobulbs wrinkled, usually with 2–4 apical leaves, not covered by the leaf bases, with nodes towards the base and the apex only. Leaves up to 17–22 by 3–3.5 cm, narrowly elliptic, twisted. Inflorescence 12–23 cm long; peduncle (sub)erect; rachis usually longer than the peduncle, with 2–5 large, distant flowers; bracts 4–9 mm long. Flowers 4–5 cm across; honey-scented; sepals and petals olive-green to mustard, shaded red-brown and spotted towards the base with purple-brown; labellum white, turning pink on pollination, with almost entirely purple-brown side-lobes, and spots and transverse dashes of red-purple on the mid-lobe; ridges white, spotted purple. Dorsal sepal 37–42 by 8–13 mm, narrowly obovate with recurved margins, obtuse or subacute, mucronate, suberect, curved over the column; lateral sepals similar, narrowly elliptic, decurved, not fully spreading. Petals 34–40 by 5–10 mm, narrowly elliptic, acute, often covering the column. Labellum fused to the base of the column for about 3 mm; side lobes 10–13 mm broad, rounded to subacute, tapering sharply towards the base, erect but not clasping the column, papillose, mid-lobe 12–15 by 11–15 mm, oblong, papillose, recurved, mucronate, margin undulate; ornaments of 2 well-defined, almost parallel, glabrous, inflated ridges extending from the base of the labellum to the base of the mid-lobe. Column 25–30 mm long; pollinia 2.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Phitsanulok (Phu Soi Dao – Suddee et al. 2160 -BKF).

Distribution : NE India (Nagaland), Myanmar (type), China (W Yunnan); 1,500–2,700 m alt.

Ecology : On moist rocks, rock crevices, and trees in damp shaded evergreen forests, often near or overhanging streams. Flowering: March–July.

Notes: Seidenfaden (1984) recognized this species as member of the Thai orchid flora, based on an old record by Berkeley from “the Siamese frontier” (Hooker, 1890–1894: 10). However, it is unknown if Berkeley made his find in Thailand or Myanmar. Against this background, Pedersen & Ormerod (2009) reported a recent collection from Phitsanulok as the first confirmed record of Cymbidium tigrinum for Thailand.