Volume 12 > Part 2 > Year 2014 > Page 611 > Orchidaceae > Pleione

2. Pleione praecox (Sm.) D.Donwfo-0000276458

Prodr. Fl. Nepal.: 37. 1825; B.Grant, Orchids Burma: 166. 1895; Seidenf. & Smitinand, Orchids Thail.: 112, 757. 1959–1965; Seidenf., Opera Bot. 89: 77, fig. 41, t. Vd. 1986, p.p.; N.Pearce & P.J.Cribb, Fl. Bhutan 3(3): 358. 2002; S.C.Chen et al. in Z. Wu et al. (eds), Fl. China 25: 327. 2009.— Epidendrum praecox Sm., Exot. Bot. 2: 73. 1806. [For additional synonyms, see Seidenf., op. cit.]. Fig. 330; Plate LIII: 2.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Description : Plant terrestrial or epiphytic, 12–25 cm tall when producing leaves. Pseudobulbs turbinate, 1–3.5 by 1–2.5 cm, with a distinct neck, often covered by remains of old warty sheaths. Foliage leaves 2, rarely 1 per pseudobulb, elliptic to elliptic-oblanceolate, 10–25 by 2.5–6.5 cm, apex acuminate, base attenuate, chartaceous. Inflorescence appearing before the leaves, glabrous, to 12 cm long; peduncle covered by warty sheaths; floral bracts elliptic-oblong, 2.5–3 cm, acute. Flowers 1(–2), suberect; pedicel and ovary 1–1.5 cm long. Sepals pinkish-purple; dorsal sepal oblong-lanceolate, 55–60 by 7–8 mm, acute, 5-nerved; lateral sepals oblong-lanceolate, slightly falcate, more or less the same size as dorsal sepal, acute, 5-nerved. Petals pinkish-purple, linear oblong, slightly falcate, 50–70 by 5–7 mm, acute to obtuse, obscurely 1- to 3-nerved. Labellum white to pinkish-purple, with bluish-purple spots, obscurely 3-lobed, ovate-elliptic, 40–50 by 28–30 mm; mid-lobe ovate, dentate-lacerate on apical margin, emarginate; side lobes obscure; ornaments of 3–5(–7) papillate lines, extending to the middle of mid-lobe. Column arcuate, 35–45 mm long, apex dentate. Fruit long fusiform, 2–4 by 0.5–1 cm.

Thailand : NORTHERN: Chiang Mai.

Distribution : NE India, Nepal (type), Bhutan, Myanmar, S China, Laos, Vietnam.

Ecology : Hill evergreen forests, 1,700–2,400 m alt. Flowering: October–November.

Notes: Seidenfaden (1986: 78) cited Chandraprasong 2036 -BK from Phu Luang (province of Loei) under this species. In reality, it belongs to Pleione maculata (Lindl.) Lindl.