Cephalanthera calcarata S. C. Chen & K. Y. Lang Acta Bot. Yunnan. 8: 271. 1986.

硕距头蕊兰 shuo ju tou rui lan

Plants holomycotrophic, 8-21 cm tall. Rhizome ca. 5 cm, ca. 0.2 cm in diam., with tubular sheaths 2-7 mm; roots sparse, fleshy. Stem slender, lacking green leaves. Basal sheaths several, tubular, 7-25 mm, membranous. Inflorescence laxly 3-7-flowered; rachis 2.5-5 cm; floral bracts lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, basal ones to ca. 10 × 2 mm, scarious, apex acuminate. Flowers weakly spreading or not opening at all, suberect, white; pedicel and ovary 8-12 mm. Sepals equal, lanceolate-oblong, 13-14 × ca. 4 mm, 5-veined, apex acute. Petals similar to sepals, suboblong to narrowly elliptic, 10-12 × ca. 3 mm, apex acute; lip suberect, 8-9 × ca. 9 mm, spurred at base, 2-partite; hypochile lobes erect and clasping column, slightly falcate, narrowly triangular, ca. 3.5 mm, apex acute; epichile transversely oblong-elliptic, ca. 5 × 7 mm, densely papillose toward apex, apex obtuse, with 5-7 longitudinal lamellae extending from near base to middle or slightly above middle; spur located at base of hypochile, protruding between bases of lateral sepals, conic, 2-3 mm, apex obtuse. Column ca. 8 mm; stigma circular; anther oblong, ca. 3 mm. Capsule to 1 cm. Fl. May.

● Leaf litter in broad-leaved forests; ca. 2600 m. NW Yunnan.