Didymoplexis pallens Griffith Calcutta J. Nat. Hist. 4: 383. 1843.

双唇兰 shuang chun lan

Apetalon minutum Wight; Arethusa ecristata Griffith; Cheirostylis kanarensis Blatter & McCann; Didymoplexis brevipes Ohwi; D. subcampanulata Hayata; D. sylvatica (Blume) Garay; Gastrodia pallens (Griffith) F. Mueller; Leucorchis sylvatica Blume.

Plants 6-25 cm tall. Rhizome pale brown, fusiform or moniliform, 8-25 × 5-8 mm; roots few to many, wiry, often with small globose thickenings. Stem 5-20 cm, with 3-5 scalelike sheaths, pale brown to reddish brown. Rachis 0.4-3 cm, elongating in fruit, laxly to subdensely 4-20-flowered; floral bracts ovate, ca. 2 mm, apex acute. Flowers opening in succession, white, campanulate; pedicel and ovary erect, brown, 0.7-1.2 cm; pedicel extending to 15 cm in fruit. Dorsal sepal and petals 4-7 mm, usually united for more than 1/2 of their length, free portion ovate-triangular, shallowly 3-lobed, each lobe ovate-deltoid and with an obtuse apex; lateral sepals 3-4.5 mm, connate with each other for up to 1/2 of their length, and with petals for 1/3 of their length, free portion 2-lobed, each lobe ovate and with an obtuse apex, reflexed; lip broadly obovate, 4.5-5 × 6-7 mm, erose-crenate, lateral margins erect or incurved, apex subtruncate; disk with a dense row of warty papillae along midvein. Column slightly curved, clavate, ca. 4 mm, apex dilated and with 2 oblong wings; column foot slightly curved, 2-3 mm; anther orbicular. Capsule cylindric-fusiform, 2-2.8 cm. Fl. and fr. Apr-May.

Thickets in coastal areas. N Fujian, C and S Taiwan [Afghanistan, Bangladesh, NE India, Indonesia, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Malaysia, New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam; Australia, SW Pacific islands].