Cheirostylis liukiuensis Masamune J. Soc. Trop. Agric. 2: 36. 1930.

琉球叉柱兰 liu qiu cha zhu lan

Cheirostylis kanashiroi Ohwi.

Plants 5-9 cm tall. Rhizome creeping, purplish brown, torose to moniliform, sometimes branching; roots hairlike, in tufts on rhizome internodes. Stem erect, brownish, elongate, 4-5 cm, fleshy, 3- or 4-leaved. Leaves scattered along stem, abaxially reddish purple, adaxially dark grayish green, ovate to ovate-orbicular, 2-3 × 1-2 cm, glabrous, base rounded or slightly cordate, apex acute; petiole-like base and sheath 0.7-1 cm. Inflorescence 4-7 cm, pubescent, with 2-4 sterile bracts; rachis 1-1.5 cm, 5-9-flowered; floral bracts ovate, concave, 7-9 mm, often slightly longer than ovary, apex acuminate. Flowers often secund; ovary cylindric-fusiform, 5-8 mm including pedicel, pubescent. Sepals white, tinged with reddish brown, 4.5-5 mm, connate for ca. 2/3 of length and forming a tube, sparsely pubescent on outer surface; tube 2.1-2.7 mm in diam.; free apical lobes triangular. Petals appressed to dorsal sepal, white, obliquely oblong or oblanceolate, 4-4.5 × 0.7-2 mm, 1-veined, apex obtuse; lip white, 6-7 mm, 3-partite; hypochile shallowly saccate, containing 2 bifid calli; mesochile 2-3 mm, narrow; epichile dilated, with a pair of diffuse green spots at base, 2-lobed; lobes widely diverging, subsquare, 2-2.5 mm, margin wavy to shallowly 2- or 3-dentate, teeth broad with acute tips. Column 2-2.4 mm; stelidia elongate, slightly incurved and embracing rostellum arms; anther broadly ovoid, ca. 1.5 mm; pollinia ca. 1.2 mm; rostellum arms ca. 1.2 mm. Fl. Jan-Feb.

Forests, bamboo forests; 200-800 m. Hong Kong, Taiwan [Japan (Ryukyu Islands)].