!Gastrochilus calceolaris [Buch.-Ham. ex Sm.] D. Don 1825 SECTION Gastrochilus Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl

Inflorescence Photo courtesy of Thien Phien

To

Common Name The Shoe-Shaped Gastrochilus

Flower Size to about 3/4" [to 2 cm]

A medium sized, cool to hot growing epiphytic orchid from the eastern Himalayas, Assam India, Nepal, Myanamar, Thailand, Yunnan and Hainan China, Vietnam Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra and the Philippines in evergreen lowland forests or primary montane forests at elevations of 900 to 2300 meters. The flowers are translucent cream marked with dark brown spots. The lip is white with a bright yellow central patch and is fringed. The orchid flowers in the fall and winter on a very short to 2" [5 cm] long, corymbose, pendant, purple spotted, stout, few flowered inflorescence with small bracts that has slightly fragrant, waxy, longlasting, pubescent flowers and is a monopodial epiphyte with a very short stem carrying strongly falcate, linear-lanceolate, acutely unequally bilobed apically leaves .

Synonyms *Aerides calceolare Buch.-Ham. ex Sm. 1818; Aerides leopardorum Wall. ex Hook. 1890; Epidendrum calceolare (Buch.-Ham. ex Sm.) D.Don 1825; Gastrochilus philippinensis Ames 1915; Gastrochilus sororius Schlechter 1913; Saccolabium calceolare [D. Don] Lindley 1839; Sarcochilus nepalensis Sprengl. 1828

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of Burma Grant 1895/1995 as Saccolabium calceolare; Orchidiana Philipiniana Vol 1 Valmayor 1984; The Wild Orchids of China Tsi, Chen & Mori 1997; Beautiful Orchids of Nepal Rajbhandari & Bhattarai 2001; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2002; Flora Malesiana Orchids of the Philippines Vol I Agoo, Shuiteman and de Vogel 2003;

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