Phaius tankervilleae (Banks ex L’Hér.) Blume

Kurzweil, Hubert, 2010, A precursory study of the Calanthe group (Orchidaceae) in Thailand, Adansonia (3) 32 (1), pp. 57-107 : 94-97

2. Phaius tankervilleae (Banks ex L’Hér.) Blume

Museum Botanicum Lugduno-Batavum 2: 177 (1856); Seidenfaden & Smitinand, The Orchids of Thailand – A Preliminary List, part III: 328 (1961); Seidenfaden & Smitinand, The Orchids of Thailand – A Preliminary List, part IV, 2: 792 (1965) excluding syn. P. wallichii Lindl. ; Seidenfaden, Opera Botanica 89: 43 (1986); Comber, Orchids of Java: 101 (1990); Seidenfaden, Opera Botanica 114: 100 (1992); Seidenfaden & Wood, The Orchids of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore: 176 (1992); Comber, Orchids of Sumatra: 284 (2001); Pearce & Cribb, Flora of Bhutan 3 (3): 305 (2002); Cribb et al., Kew Bulletin 59: 549 (2004); Cribb, Orchid Review 116: 330 (2008); Chen et al., Flora of China, vol. 25: 291 (2009). — Limodorum tankervilleae Banks ex L’Hér., Sertum Anglicum : 28 (1789). — Bletia tankervilleae (Banks ex L’Hér.) R.Br. , Botanical Magazine 44: pl. 1924 (1817). — Type: China, cultivated (holo-, BM).

Phaius grandifolius Lour. , Flora Cochinchinensis: 529 (1790). — Types: Cochinchina and China, Loureiro s.n. (syn-, not known).

Limodorum incarvillei Pers. , Synopsis Plantarum 2: 520 (1807), nom. superfl.

Limodorum incarvillei Blume, Bijdragen : 374 (1825). — Type: cultivated, Blume s.n. (?holo-, L).

Phaius blumei Lindl. , Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants: 127 (1831). — Type: cultivated, based on Limodorum incarvillei Blume.

Phaius blumei var. assamica Rchb. f., Gardeners’ Chronicle, n.s., 17: 558 (1882). — India, Assam, Griffith s.n.; Syntypes (not found) , India, Assam, Staur s.n .; Myanmar, Griffith s.n .; Myanmar, Parish s.n .

Phaius blumei var. pulchra King & Pantl., Annals of the Royal Botanical Garden Calcutta 8: 108 (1898). — Type: India, Sikkim, “in tropical valleys”, 1891, Pantling 139 (holo-, K!; iso-, BM).

Calanthe bachmaensis Gagnep. , Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, sér. 2, 22: 509 (1950). — Type: Vietnam, Hué , Grande Cascade, Bach-ma, 1000 m, 15.IV.1939, Poilane 29735 (holo-, P!).

(For a complete synonymy see Cribb et al. 2004) ADDITIONAL MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Northern, Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep,? Kerr s.n. (K H2007/02483-165); Kerr 18 (K); without collector and number (K H2007/02483- 167); 5.IV.1991, Nunie 1 ( CMU). — Northern, Chiang Mai, Hod, 13.III.2001, Sankamethawee 134 ( CMU [Sc], CMU [Sc] spirit, L). — Northern, Chiang Mai, Doi Inthanon, 8.V.1958, Sørensen et al. 3283 (C). —?Northern, Phitsanulok, Thung Salaeng Luang, 20.III.1966, Seidenfaden & Smitinand 5569 (C spirit). — North- Eastern, Loei, Dan Sai, 30.III.1924, Kerr 0164 ( BK, C, K, P). — Eastern, Chaiyaphum, Phu Khieo, Seidenfaden & Smitinand 8133 (C spirit). — Peninsular, Trang, Thung Khai, 25.X.1993, Larsen & al. 43984 ( AAU). — Without locality, Nanakorn et al. 9979 ( QBG spirit); Thaithong 1024 ( BCU spirit); Thaithong s.n. ( BCU spirit) .

ILLUSTRATIONS. — Seidenfaden, Opera Botanica 89: fig. 19a-f, pl. IIId (1986); Comber, Orchids of Java: pl. on page 101 (1990); Seidenfaden & Wood, The Orchids of Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore: fig. 76a, pl. 10c (1992); Comber, Orchids of Sumatra: pl. on page 284 (2001); Cribb et al., Kew Bulletin 59: figs 1, 2 (2004); Pridgeon et al., Genera Orchidacearum 4: pl. 43 (2005); Cribb, Orchid Review 116: pl. on page 328 (2008).

DESCRIPTION

Terrestrial herbs, evergreen, glabrous except for the gynostemium, to 200 cm tall; stems pseudobulbous. Basal sheaths 1-2, elliptic-lanceolate, 3.5-17 cm long. Pseudobulbs inconspicuous and enclosed by the leaf bases, conical to ovoid, 2.5-6 cm long, close together, several-noded. Leaves 4-5, lanceolate-oblong, acute, 30-105 × (4-) 6-20 cm; with petioles (9-)15-25- (-38) cm long. Inflorescences arising from the base of the pseudobulbs; peduncles longer than 50 cm; sterile bracts 6-10, scattered along the flowering stem and a few clustered at its base, erect, lanceolateoblong, acute, acuminate, apiculate,(1-) 4-6 cm long, sheathing, rarely already fallen off at the flowering time and only the leaf scars visible; raceme erect, lax to semi-dense, 6- to 20-flowered; rachis (4.5-) 15- 30 cm long; floral bracts persistent or caducous, to 50 mm long. Flowers: sepals and petals reddish brown on the inside and white on the outside, lip purple with dark veins and a pale apical rim, spur and gynostemium white; flowers nutant or subnutant, sepals and petals similar, lying in one plane and facing downward; reported as fragrant. Ovary indistinguishable from the pedicel, (25-) 28-48 mm long. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 7-veined, 41-58(-63) × 9-16(-17.5) mm. Petals ovate-elliptic, acute, 3- to 7-veined, 40-55(-58) × 8-18 mm. Lip 3-lobed with its midlobe clearly protruding, 37-55 × 25-43 mm, obovate, acute or truncate, base united with the gynostemium for about 3 mm, spurred, margins undulate; midlobe ovate-oblong, obtuse, 20-25 mm wide; side lobes curved upwards and enveloping the gynostemium; callus in the form of three obscure ridges over the entire length or only part of it; spur cylindric, curved, 5-8(-9) mm long, apex normally entire. Gynostemium 19-21 mm long, sparsely hairy especially on the base and the anther cap. Fruits ellipsoid, to 55 × 17 mm, pendent on a short pedicel, glabrous.

DISTRIBUTION AND PHENOLOGY

In Thailand scattered in the Northern, Eastern and Peninsular parts. Outside this country very widespread in tropical and subtropical Asia from Nepal, India and Sri Lanka to S China and Japan and the whole of Malesia as far eastwards as New Guinea, northern and eastern Australia and several of the Pacific Ocean Islands. In open swampy grassland and bog from the lowlands to 2000 m. Flowering recorded at different times of the year.

REMARKS

Phaius tankervilleae was one of the first tropical orchids introduced in England when it was brought from China in 1778. Since then it has been widely cultivated in England and continental Europe and has been illustrated in numerous horticultural journals. This and the following species P. wallichii have mostly been considered as conspecific in the recent literature. However, as pointed out by Cribb et al. (2004) and Cribb (2008) the two are distinct in a number of characters and were consequently recognized as separate species. Flowers of P. tankervilleae have shorter and normally entire lip spurs (usually 5-8 mm; as opposed to over 11 mm long and almost always bifid in P. wallichii ); tepals with red-brown inner surfaces and white outer surfaces (yellowish green on both surfaces in P. wallichii ); and a lip which is purple with dark venation and has a pink and white rim (white with yellow and purple markings in P. wallichii ). Further differences are also found in the sizes of the sepals, petals and lip which measure mostly 40-58 mm in P. tankervilleae and 46-70 mm in P. wallichii . Measurements of flower features in various examined specimens are given in Table 2.

Seidenfaden (1986) discussed the complicated nomenclatural history of Phaius tankervilleae , making particular reference to his synonyms P. grandifolius Lour. , P. blumei Lindl. , P. bicolor Lindl. and P. wallichii Lindl. Also the different ways of spelling the species epithet “ tankervilleae ” were discussed.

Comber (1990) reported that the flowers of Javanese plants of this species are self-pollinating, and that they are hanging down afterwards. It is possible that this is also the case in other parts in the distribution area, as suggested by the frequently nutant or subnutant flowers.