Cheirostylis tortilacinia C.S.Leou, Quart. J. Exp. Forest.

Cheirostylis tortilacinia C.S.Leou, Quart. J. Exp. Forest. View in CoL 4: 72. 1990. Cheirostylis chinensis Rolfe var. tortilacinia (C.S.Leou) S.S.Ying, Coloured

Illustr. Orchid Fl. Taiwan 1: 224. 1996. Type :

TAIWAN, Nantou County, Hoshe, c. 1000 m, C. S. Leou 4143 (holo NTUF, not found). Figs. 1 View Fig & 2 View Fig

Terrestrial, sympodial herbs, up to 7 cm tall. Rhizomes short, creeping, distally ascending, greenish brown, moniliform with up to 13 nodes up to 0.5 cm apart, fleshy, c. 6 cm long, c. 0.5 cm in diam. Leaves c. 5, petiolate; petioles 0.5-0.7 cm long, base sheathing; lamina narrowly to broadly ovate, 1–1.5 × 0.7–0.8 cm, subcordate at base, acute at apex, margins entire, glabrous, greenish to reddish brown. Racemes terminal, erect, 4.5–5 cm tall; peduncle c. 3.5 cm long, greenish or reddish brown, densely pubescent with 0.5–0.8 mm long glandular hairs, bearing 3 lanceolate-ovate, sheathing scale leaves; rachis up to 1 cm long, laxly 1–7-flowered. Bracts ovate, 7–8 × 2.9–3 mm, cuspidate at apex, shorter than ovary, sparsely glandular-pubescent, greenish brown to reddish brown. Flowers short-pedicelled, 4.4–4.5 mm in diam., greenish to dull green with white petals, labellum white with two (sometimes confluent) spots at the base of the epichile. Synsepal distinctly saccate at base, 5.2–5.4 mm long, apically trilobed with triangular, obtuse lobes, densely glandular-pubescent on the outer surface. Petals obliquely to falcately oblanceolate, 3.0–3.1 × 0.6–0.7 mm, adherent to the synsepal, apices not protruding from the lateral sinuses of the synsepal, subacute, 1-veined. Labellum differentiated into hypochile and epichile, 5–6 mm long along the mid-line; hypochile saccate at base, inside with a short row of 2–3 papilla-like appendages on either side; epichile cleft for about half of its length to form 2 moderately spreading, subsimilar, subquadrate, 2.3–2.4 × 1.5–2 mm, coarsely 4–5 dentate lobes. Column 1.3–1.5 mm long; stigma bipartite, extended in 2 linear-triangular stylids that are parallel and subequal to the rostellum lobes. Rostellum bifid with linear lobes, c. 2 mm long; anther cuspidate in front, c. 1.8 mm long; pollinia 2, clavate, c. 1.3 mm long; viscidium not seen. Ovary green to brownish green, cylindricfusiform, 4.9–5 mm long, densely glandular-pubescent. Capsule not seen.

Flowering & fruiting: Flowering in November; fruiting not observed.

Habitat: Terrestrial in hill evergreen forest, growing in soil with litter in a moist, shaded area.

Distribution: Hainan, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Specimens examined: THAILAND, Nakhon Nayok, Pha Diew Dai, Khao Yai , N 14°21’57.35”, E 101°24’22.43”, c. 1100 m alt., 25.11.2021, Chanokkhun 424 ( QBG!) GoogleMaps .