Species Information - Cymbidium ensifolium subsp. acuminatum

Cymbidium ensifolium (L.) Sw. subsp. acuminatum (Lindl.) (M.A.Clem. & D.L.Jones) P.J.Cribb & Du Puy

Type: Canberra Nat. Bot. Garden cult. (Clements) (holo CANB)

Synonyms:

• Cymbidium acuminatum M.A.Clem. & D.L.Jones, Lasianthera 1 (1996) 28, fig. 7, pl. 7B
  - Type: Canberra Nat. Bot. Garden cult. (Clements) (holo CANB)

Terrestrial herb forming dense clumps. Roots to 0.6 cm thick. Pseudobulbs 2.5-3.5 by 1.5-2.5 cm. Leaves 3 or 4 per pseudobulb, sessile, erect to arcuate, ligulate to narrowly ensiform, 3-12 by 1-2.3 cm; midrib below carinate, two other veins prominent; margins serrulate; apex acuminate to long­acuminate. Racemes erect, 2-7 -flowered in the distal third, 30- 80 cm long; peduncle much longer than the rachis; floral bracts subulate, 1-1.4 by 0.15-0.2 cm, acuminate. Pedicel and ovary 1.8-2.3 cm long, slender, obliquely erect to porrect. Flowers 5 cm across, opening widely. Median sepal linear to ensiform, 1.3-1.5 by 0.3-0.4 cm, incurved over the column, flat, apex acuminate, often slightly recurved. Lateral sepals linear to ensiform, 1.3-1.5 by 0.3-0.4 cm, widely divergent, flat; apex acuminate. Petals porrect and closely flanking the column, flat, narrowly linear-lanceolate, 1,8-2.2 by 0.3-0.4 cm; apex acuminate. Lip porrect to obliquely deflexed, deeply three-lobed, 1.8-2 by 1-1.2 cm; lateral lobes bluntly deltate, c. 0.4 cm wide, erect and flanking the column, entire to slightly irregular; mid-lobe narrowly deltate, recurved in distal third; callus consisting of two broad plates, thickening distally, prominent on the lateral lobes, ending in two, incurved, raised lobes in close contact with each other; margins irregular; apex long acuminate. Column linear, curved, 1-1.2 by c. 0.3 cm, flattened or shallowly channelled in front; stigma transversely oblong, c. 0.2 cm wide, sunken; wings small extending above the anther; anther c. 0.2 cm across; pollinia c. 0.2 cm across, orange, waxy. Fruit linear-oblong, 25-30 mm by 8-10 mm, dark green, shallowly ribbed, erect.
(after M.A. Clem. et D.L. Jones 1996)

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