Cheirostylis chinensis Rolfe Ann. Bot. (Oxford). 9: 158. 1895.

中华叉柱兰 zhong hua cha zhu lan

Cheirostylis philippinensis Ames; C. taiwanensis Yamamoto.

Plants 6-20 cm tall. Rhizome creeping, torose to moniliform, to 10 cm; roots in rows along rhizome internodes. Stem ascending, pale green, 1-3 cm, 2-4-leaved. Leaves subrosulate, green, ovate or broadly ovate, 1-3 × 0.7-1.7 cm, membranous, base rounded, apex acute; petiole-like base and sheath 0.3-1 cm. Inflorescence 5-18 cm, pubescent, with 3 or 4 sterile bracts; rachis 1-3 cm, 2-6-flowered; floral bracts oblong-lanceolate, concave, 5-8 mm, nearly as long as ovary, abaxially hairy, apex long acuminate. Flowers small; ovary green, cylindric-fusiform, 7-8 mm including pedicel, sparsely pubescent. Sepals 3-4 mm, basal 1/2 connate and forming a tube, membranous, outer surface sparsely pubescent, 1-veined; free apical lobes triangular-ovate, ca. 1.8 mm, apex subobtuse. Petals appressed to dorsal sepal, white, narrowly oblanceolate-oblong, oblique, falcate, 3-4 × 1.2-1.5 mm, membranous, 1-veined, apex obtuse; lip erect, white, 5-7 mm, 3-partite; hypochile saccate, containing 2 comblike calli, each callus (4 or)5- or 6-toothed; mesochile ca. 1 mm, narrow; epichile with 2 green spots at base, flabellate, ca. 3.5 mm, 2-lobed; lobes ca. 3 mm, margin 4- or 5-dentate, teeth triangular with acute tips. Column ca. 2.5 mm; stelidia erect, nearly as long as rostellum; anther pinkish, ovoid, ca. 1.5 mm; viscidium narrowly oblong, ca. 1 mm; rostellum arms ca. 1.5 mm. Fl. Jan-Mar.

Damp rocky soils in forests, along streams; 200-800 m. Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, C and S Taiwan [Myanmar, Philippines, Vietnam].