Scientific Name
Other Names
Life Form
Family
Ornamental - It is used as an ornamental plant.Medicinal - The pseudobulbs (swollen stem base) have been used traditionally for various medicinal purposes including treating coughs, fevers, dysentery, and wounds.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan
It is a species which has evolved as a bog dweller and it is always found in areas which are shady, and subject to flooding for a few months each year, remaining cool and moist for the rest of the year.
Its flower is said to resemble a nun in prayer. Primarily pollinated by large carpenter bees.
Evergreen, terrestrial herb.
It has tall, thick stems that store water and nutrients.
Several large pleated leaves.
The flowers are whitish on the outside and reddish brown inside. The sepals and petals are oblong to lance-shaped, 40–65 mm (2–3 in) long and 10–15 mm (0.4–0.6 in) wide. The labellum is pink or reddish with a white tip and white stripes inside, 35–60 mm (1–2 in) long and 20–50 mm (0.8–2 in) wide with three lobes. The middle lobe is more or less tube-shaped and the side lobes have wavy or crinkled edges. There is a whitish yellow spur 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) long near the base of the labellum and a narrow raised callus in its centre.
Fruit is a fleshy capsule, green when young, turning brown as it matures. It contains numerous, tiny, black seeds embedded in a pulpy interior.
Flowering: March-June