Pleione humilis (Sm.) D. Don 1825 SECTION Humiles Photo courtesy of Dale Borders

Lip Closeup Photo © Pieter C. Brouwer and his Nature Photo Website

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Common Name The Low Growing Pleione

Flower Size 2 to 4" [5 to 10 cm]

Found from the eastern Himalayas, Assam, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and Myanamar in cloud forests at elevations of 1100 to 3500 meters growing on moss or the smooth trunks of rhododendron trees as a small sized, cool to cold growing terrestrial or epiphyte with ovoid-conical pseudobulbs carrying a single, apical, deciduous, oblanceolate, subacute leaf that blooms in the early spring on a basal, 3 to 5" [7.5 to 12.5 cm] long, single flowered inflorescence enveloped by a green sheath with a slightly fragrant, color variable flower.

Synonyms Coelogyne humilis Lindl. 1821; Coelogyne humilis var. albata Rchb.f. 1888; Coelogyne humilis var. tricolor Rchb.f. 1880; Cymbidium humile Sm. ex Lindl. 1821; Dendrobium humile (Sm.) Sm. in A.Rees 1808; *Epidendrum humile Sm. 1806; Pleione diantha Schltr. 1915; Pleione humilis var. adnata Pfitzer 1907; Pleione humilis var. purpurascens Pfitzer 1907

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Orchids of Bhutan Pearce & Cribb 2007

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