Oberonia ensiformis (Sm.) Lindl. 1859 SUBGENUS Oberonia

Plant and FlowersPhotos by Takato NATSU from Japan and his Japan Orchids Page

Common Name The Sword-Like Leafed Oberonia - In China Jian Ye Yuan Wei Lan

Flower Size .1" [3mm]

Found in Assam, Eastern Himalayas, Nepal, India, China, Myanamar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam in primary, evergreen and semi-deciduous forests on high rocky cliffs of karst limestone at elevations around 600 to 700 meters as a small to medium sized, hot growing lithophyte with a short stem carrying 4 to 5 linear-ensiform, falcate, acute, imbricate, flabellate basally leaves that blooms in the fall on an erect, axillary, subtruncate, densely many flowered, thick, fleshy, to 10" [25 cm] long, racemose inflorescnece with diatant, lanceolate, acute bracts and convolute, ovate-orbicular, acute, apically erose floral bracts.

Synonyms Iridorkis ensiformis (Sm.) Kuntze 1891; *Malaxis ensiformis Sm. 1812; Oberonia trilobata Griff.1851

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; The Orchids of Burma Grant 1895/1995; The Orchids of Sikkim-Himalaya Part 1 King & Pantling 1898 drawing fide; The Orchids of North-Western Himalaya Vol IX Part II Duthie 1906; The Orchids of Thailand Seidenfaden & Smitinand 1959; Orchids of Kumaun Himalayas Pangtey, Samant and Rawat 1991; Lindleyana Vol 15 No 4 2000; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce and Cribb 2002; Orchids of India A Glimpse Misra 2007; Native Orchids From Gaoligongshan Mountains, China Xiaohua, Xiaodong and Xiaochun 2009 photo fide; Flora of China Vol 25 Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2009; Flora of China Vol 25 Illustrations Zhengyi, Raven & Deyuan 2010 drawing fide; The Wild Orchids in Yunnan Xu Xiang Ye & Liu 2010 photos ok

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------