Species Information - Calanthe aceras

Calanthe aceras Schltr. in K.Schum. & Lauterb., Nachtr. Fl. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. Südsee (1905) 140

Type: Schlechter 14049 (holo B, lost)

Synonyms:

• Coelogyne palaelabellata Gilli, Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien 84, B (1980 publ. 1983) 22, fig. 9 ('palaelabellatum')
  - Type: Gilli 540 (holo W)
• Gynoglottis palaelabellata (Gilli) Garay & W.Kittr., Bot. Mus. Leafl. 30 (1984, publ. 1985) 97 ('palaelabellatum')

Leaves erect-patent, basal, petiolate; petiole 40 cm long, dilated and sheathing at the base; blade broadly lanceolate, 100 by 13 cm, plicate, apex acuminate. Inflorescence racemose, erect, 150-200 cm long, glabrous, peduncle-scales distant, acuminate; rachis to 50 cm long, rather laxely many-flowered. Floral bracts lanceolate, as long as the ovary, acuminate, soon falling off. Pedicel and ovary 2.8 cm long, clavate. Flowers c. 4 cm across. Dorsal sepal narrowly lanceolate-ligulate, a little widened in apical part, 2 cm long, apex narrowly acuminate. Lateral sepals similar, but slightly oblique, 2 cm long, apex narrowly acuminate. Petals patent, subfalcate-lanceolate, narrowing to the base, a little shorter than the dorsal sepal, glabrous, apex acuminate. Lip ovate-subquadrate, slightly constricted in the middle, with a linear, 0.8 cm long claw adnate to the margins of the column, on the claw with two minutely pubescent raised lines, curved and thickened towards the blade; blade 0.8 by 0.8 cm, at base on either side with a minute lanceolate-falcate, acute lobule, front margin serrulate, apex acuminate. Column slender, slightly dilated to the apex, in front minutely pubescent, 1.3 cm long. Anther rounded. Pollinia obliquely clavate, coherent at the base.
(After Schlechter, 1905).

Note: Easily recognised by the unspurred lip.

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