Description
This rare and elusive species has 8-12 narrowly elliptic leaves which are plain (and not hairy) at the edge.
The strongly fragrant flower (for you get but one flower per plant) is a widely spreading bell. The flowers vary in colour from purple-red to purple-rose and pale pink. They are finely (but varyingly) spotted, with tiny purple spickles concentrated mainly in the throat. The flowers are made from June to July.
Native to Yunnan at 2200 m. The plant was lost to cultivation from 1938, when it flowered and died at Bodnant until the late 1990s when it reappeared from China. This naturally makes only a small bulb, around the size of a hazelnut is flowering-sized.
Humus-rich, acid soil with excellent drainage. Light shade and humidity are appreciated when this is in growth but it likes a distinctly dry, cold winter (in the ground) and as late a start as possible. Attempts at forcing it will end in tears! .
