Globba sherwoodiana - East-Indian Swan Flower

East-Indian Swan Flower is a perennial herbs with leafy shoots slender, 30-40 cm tall, light green in colour. It is named in honor of Dr. Shirley Sherwood, a great lover of plants and a patron of contemporary botanical art. Flowers are borne at branch-ends, in drooping clusters, 8-12 cm long, flower-cluster-stalk 3-4 x 0.4-0.5 cm, pale green. Snow-white bracts are spirally arranged, reflexed, overlapping and widely separated, ovate to ovate-oblong, decreasing in size from base to the tip, 2.5-3 x 1.5- 1.8 cm. Bracteole are tubular, smaller than the bract, persistent. Flowers are small, stalkless, yellowish-orange, 4-4.5 cm long. Flower tube is 1.1-1.4 cm long, slender, widening gradually towards the mouth, with petals reflexed. Petals are 3; dorsal petaal concave, about 0.5 x 0.2 cm, orange in color; lateral petal ovate, about 0.5 x 0.2 cm. Lip is triangular, 0.6-0.8 x 0.2-0.4 cm, orange-yellow with a reddish patch at center, tip deeply bifid, hairless. Lateral staminodes are elliptic, 0.7-1 x 0.2-0.5 cm, orange-yellow, hairless. Filament slender, about 1.6-2.6 cm long, orange, hairless, anther linear, 0.2-0.3 cm long, thecae parallel, with two triangular appendages on either side, hairless. Style thread-like, stigma with hairy margin. Sepal-cup is tubular, 0.3-0.4 cm long, trilobed, greenish -yellow, hairless. Leaves are 6-8 in number, shortly stalked, oblong-lanceshaped, 15-20 x 5-8 cm, margin entire, lower surface minutely velvet-hairy along the mid rib, upper surface hairless, tip tapering, base narrowed. East-Indian Swan Flower is found in NE India to Myanmar. Flowering: August-September.