金兰 Cephalanthera falcata


  • Scientific Name: Cephalanthera falcata (Thunb.) Blume
  • Ref: Coll. Orchid. 187. 1859
  • English Common Name: Golden Orchid
  • Chinese Common Name: 金兰 jīnlán
  • Japanese Common Name: キンラン [金蘭] kinran
  • Family: Orchidaceae
  • Genus: Cephalanthera
  • Distribution: Forests, grasslands, valleys, along streams; 700-2000 m. Anhui, N Fujian, N Guangdong, N Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, W Yunnan (Bijiang), Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].
  • Photo: Qingliang Peak, Mt. Tianmu, Zhejiang
Plants leafy, autotrophic, 20-50 cm tall. Stem slender to somewhat robust, 4-7-leaved. Basal sheaths 3-5, 1-5 cm. Leaves elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, 5-11 × 1.5-3.5 cm, apex acuminate to obtuse. Inflorescence subdensely 5-10-flowered; rachis 3-8 cm; floral bracts usually very small, 1-3 mm and all shorter than ovary, though occasionally lower one to 12 mm and exceeding ovary. Flowers suberect, weakly spreading, yellow; pedicel and ovary straight to slightly curved, 7-15 mm. Sepals rhombic-elliptic, 12-15 × 3.5-4.5 mm, 5-veined, apex obtuse to acute. Petals similar to sepals but shorter, 8-12 × 2.5-4.5 mm, apex obtuse to acute; lip suberect, 8-9 mm, spurred at base, 2-partite; hypochile lobes erect and loosely embracing column, triangular to ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-3.5 mm, apex subacute; epichile transversely elliptic, ca. 5 × 8-9 mm, densely papillose toward apex, with 5-7 brownish orange lamellae; central 3 lamellae 0.5-1 mm tall, outer lamellae shorter; spur protruding between bases of lateral sepals, conic, sometimes slightly incurved, ca. 3 mm, apex obtuse. Column 6-7 mm, apex dilated, with 2 ovate wings; anther elliptic, ca. 2 mm. Capsule narrowly elliptic, 2-2.5 × 0.5-0.6 cm. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Aug-Sep. 2n = 34. (Flora of China)

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