Pleione formosana Hayata 1911 Photo by © Pieter C. Brouwer and his Nature Photo Website
Plant and Flowers Photo courtesy of Eric Hunt, plant grown by Dennis Westler
Flower Closeup Photo courtesy of © Jay Pfahl
LATE 
to EARLY 
Common Name The Formosa Pleione
Flower Size 3 to 4" [6 to 10 cm]
This is a small sized, cold growing terrestrial or lithophyte growing in moss on sunny rocks or on tree trunks in moist foggy areas found near the treeline in shaded locations in the mountains of Formosa at elevations of 1500 to 2500 meters with compressed, ovoid to ovoid-conical pseudobulbs carrying a single, apical, erect to arcuate, oblanceolate to elliptic, plicate, acuminate, deciduous leaf that is shortly petiolate and blooms in the late winter and early spring with one or two flowers per erect, 10" [to 22 cm] long, inflorescence which arises basally as a new growth appears. The growth of the psuedobulbs begins in the spring as it blooms and they will grow vigorously all summer until the onset of the fall which will cause the growth to stop and the leaves will drop, as this passes it is time to curtail watering and fertilizing until the process begins anew in the early spring.
Synonyms Coelogyne formosana (Hayata) Kudo 1931; Pleione bulbocodioides var. nivea (Fukuy.) S.S.Ying 1977; Pleione formosana f. alba Torelli & Riccab. 2000; Pleione formosana var. nivea Fukuy. 1932; Pleione hookeriana f. nivea (Fukuy.) M.Hiroe 1971; Pleione hui Schlechter 1924; Pleione pricei Rolfe 1917; Pleione prisei Rolfe 1917
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
AOS Bulleti Vol 28 No 10 1966 drawing; Orchid Digest Vol 44 No 6 1980 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 53 No 9 1984 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 65 No 1 1996 drawing; AOS Bulletin Vol 67 No 4 1998 photo; Australian Orchid Review Vol 67 No 4 2002 photo; AOS Buletin Vol 71 No 5 2002 photo; AOS Buletin Vol 71 No 12 2002 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 2 2003 drawing; Australian Orchid Review Vol 65 No 3 2000 photo;
Pleione formosana Hayata 1911 White Variety
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