Volume 12 > Part 2 > Year 2014 > Page 655 > Orchidaceae > Thunia

2. Thunia bensoniae Hook.f.wfo-0000323571

Bot. Mag. 94: t. 5694. 1868; Seidenf., Opera Bot. 89: 12, t. Ib. 1986.— Phaius albus var. bensoniae (Hook.f.) Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 5: 818. 1890; Smitinand, Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc. 22: 172, fig. 7. 1967.— Thunia alba var. bensoniae (Hook.f.) B.Grant, Orchids Burma: 208. 1895 (non (Hook.f.) T.Tang & F.T.Wang, comb. superfl.). Plate LVI: 5.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Flowering shoots 30–100 cm tall, epiphytic or lithophytic; rhizome short, 5–7 mm in diameter. Stems stout, erect, 1–1.7 cm in diameter, placed close together on rhizome; sheaths 3–5 cm long, acute. Foliage leaves many, distichous, mostly ovate-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, the lower ones near stem base suborbicular, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 10–25 by 3–5 cm, apex acute to acuminate, base sheathing, glaucous beneath; main veins 5–7. Inflorescence terminal, pendulous, 8–12 cm long; peduncle with sterile bracts; rachis slender, 2.5–5 cm long; floral bracts ovate-lanceolate, 3.5–5.2 by 1.5–3 cm, acute to acuminate, concave. Flowers 3–7, not opening widely; pedicel and ovary slender, 12–40 mm long. Sepals oblong-lanceolate, 55–82 by 10–17 mm, acute, purple. Petals similar to sepals but slightly wider and shorter. Labellum dark purple at apical margins, light purple at base, broadly obovate-oblong, 45–65 by 15–40 mm, ornamented by 5 to many orange-yellow fringed keels; apical margins undulate; spur conspicuous, 12–15 mm long, shallowly 2-lobed, obtuse. Column white, 18–27 by 5–7 mm, slender, winged and irregularly dentate at apex; pollinia 4, deeply 2-lobed, 8 in appearance; rostellum 3-lobed, median lobe largest, obtuse, lateral lobes acute. Capsule narrowly obovoid-ellipsoid, 3.2–4 by 1–2 cm.

Thailand : SOUTH-WESTERN: Kanchanaburi (Pilok), Ratchaburi (Khao Krachom).

Distribution : NE India, Myanmar (type).

Ecology : Hill evergreen forests, 800–1,200 m alt. Flowering: June–September.

Vernacular : Ueang mani chai (เอื้องมณีฉาย)(Kanchanaburi).