Collabium chinense - Chinese Collabium

Chinese Collabium is a small sized, terrestrial orchid with well spaced, leaf-stalk like, round pseudobulb with a long tubular sheath and carrying a single, ovate to oblong-lanceshaped, thickly papery leaf with wavy margins, gradually narrowing below into the stalked base. The plant blooms in the summer on an erect, basal, branch-end raceme 7-14 cm long, laxly 4 to 9 flowered, with large showy flowers. Flowers are medium-sized, sepals and petals green, lip white, column yellow; flower-stalk and ovary 1-1.4 cm. Dorsal sepal is oblong-lanceshaped, about 10 x 2.5 mm, 5-veined, tapering; lateral sepals sickle shaped-oblong, about 10 x 3 mm, 5-veined, base adnate to column foot, tip tapering; mentum spurlike, cylindric, about 6 x 2.5 mm. Petals are oblong, about 10 x 2 mm, tapering; lip obovate, about 9 mm, clawed at base, 3-lobed; lateral lobes broadly stalkless, almost ovate, 1.5-3 x 4-5 mm, blunt; mid-lobe nearly oblate to nearly square, about 9 mm wide, rounded. Column is 5-7 mm, together with spur 9-16 mm; wings slightly dilated into triangular teeth on both sides near tip. Chinese Collabium is found in NE India to S. China to Indo-China, N. Taiwan, at altitudes of 600-1000 m. Flowering: July-November.