Description
This is from the eastern Himalayas at altitudes of up to 3,000 m though it is also known from lower habitats and Laos, Sikkim, Bhutan and China, if the identifications are correct. The species is however, considerably confused.
The ribbed leaves will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen a Calanthe, the flowers are a gorgeous combination of burnished, warm brown tepals and a rolled lip which is white at the tubular, basal region and bright, golden yellow on the deeply cleft, central lobe. The whole thing is however, a Calanthe in miniature, as it seldom exceeds 30 cm tall and 15-20 cm is much more normal. Having said this, the spike is crammed with the small flowers and on flower numbers, this has far more than most species.
A lovely combination and as this is both easy to flower and makes plenty of flowers in its spike, once established, this is a very worthwhile miniature plant. Certainly as hardy here as species such as discolor and sieboldii but it is little-known and can be overlooked.
NOT available for U.S.A., Norway, Switzerland, Japan etc.
Calanthe are no longer shipped outside of the UK and EU.
