- Scientific Name: Bletilla striata (Thunb.) Rchb.f.
- Ref: Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 36:75. 1878
- Synonyms:
- Bletia gebina Lindl.
- B. hyacinthina (Sm.) Aiton
- B. striata (Thunb.) Druce
- Bletilla elegantula (Kraenzl.) Garay & G.A.Romero
- B. gebina (Lindl.) Rchb.f.
- Calanthe gebina (Lindl.) Lindl.
- Coelogyne elegantula Kraenzl.
- Cymbidium hyacinthinum Sm.
- C. striatum (Thunb.) Sw.
- Epidendrum striatum (Thunb.) Thunb.
- Gyas humilis Salisb.
- Jimensia nervosa Raf.
- J. striata (Thunb.) Garay & R.E.Schult.
- Limodorum hyacinthinum (Sm.) Donn
- L. striatum Thunb.
- Polytoma inodora Lour. ex B.A.Gomes
- Sobralia bletioides Brongn. ex Decne.
- English Common Name: Chinese ground orchid, hyacinth orchid
- Chinese Common Name: 白及 báijí
- Japanese Common Name: シラン [紫蘭] shiran
- Family: Orchidaceae
- Genus: Bletilla
- Distribution: Evergreen broad-leaved forests, Quercus forests, coniferous forests, grassy places, crevices; 100-3200 m. Anhui, Fujian, SE Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Myanmar].
- Photo: 05/01/2010
Plants 18-60 cm tall. Rhizome dorsiventrally compressed, subglobose or irregularly shaped, 1-3 cm in diam. Stem 3-25 cm, stout, enclosing several long tubular sheaths, 4-6-leaved. Leaves widely spaced or clustered toward apex of stem, narrowly oblong to lanceolate-elliptic, 8-29 × 1.5-4 cm, base contracted into amplexicaul sheath, apex acuminate. Peduncle 14-34 cm, slender, usually with 1 sheathing bract; rachis flexuous, sometimes pendulous, 2-7 cm, simple or sometimes branched, 3-10-flowered; floral bracts usually deciduous at anthesis, oblong-lanceolate, 6-20 mm. Flowers erect or spreading, purplish red or pink, large; pedicel and ovary twisted, 10-24 mm. Sepals purplish red or pink, narrowly oblong, 14-30 × 4-8 mm, lateral ones slightly oblique, apex acute. Petals similar to but slightly larger than sepals, purplish red or pink, 14-32 × 4-11 mm, apex acute; lip white, tinged with purplish red, with purplish veins, obovate-elliptic, 14-28 × 10-18 mm, 3-lobed above middle; lateral lobes erect and embracing column, triangular to suborbicular, apex acute; mid-lobe square, 3-8 × 2-6 mm, margin slightly crisped, apex truncate; disk with 5 longitudinal lamellae extending from base of lip almost to apex of mid-lobe; lamellae undulate only on mid-lobe. Column subterete, 14-20 mm, slender, dilated toward apex, with narrow wings; rostellum large. Capsule to 3.4 cm. Fl. Apr-May. 2n = 32, 38, 76. (Flora of China)