ORCHIDACEAE
Tipularia Nuttall, Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 2: 195 (1818).
By: Lokesh R. Shakya
Taxon Description
Herbs, terrestrial, slender. Pseudobulbs cylindric or subglobose, noded. Leaf solitary, arising from apex of pseudobulb, broadly ovate to ovate-elliptic, petiolate. Inflorescence laxly racemose, arising from pseudobulb, peduncle erect, slender, with a few sheathing sterile bracts, rachis laxly many-flowered. Fertile bracts very small. Flowers resupinate; pedicel and ovary cylindrical-fusiform, slender. Sepals and petals subsimilar, petals slightly smaller, free, spreading, oblong to elliptic. Lip ovate, 3-lobed, spurred, spur spreading backward or ascending, slender. Column erect, stout; anther terminal, incumbent, pollinia 4, in 2 pairs, waxy, with or without a distinct stipe, viscidium inconspicuous, rostellum short, inconspicuous.
Taxon Statistics
Worldwide about 7 species, distributed in Himalaya to E Asia and USA. One species in Nepal.
1 Tipularia josephi Rchb.f. ex Lindl., J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 1: 174 (1857).
Plants 20–40 cm tall. Pseudobulb subglobose to cylindrical, ca. 2 X 0.5 cm, 1- or 2-noded, with a few roots at base. Leaf broadly ovate, 4–7 X 12 cm, base rounded, apex acute to acuminate, prominently 3(–5)-veined, petiole ca. 2 cm, channeled. Inflorescence 30–40 cm, peduncle 18–30 cm, rachis 10–12 cm, laxly 10–20-flowered. Sterile bracts 1 or 2, more or less triangular, ca. 10 mm, sheathing. Floral bracts deltoid, ca. 5 mm. Flowers pale green with a few brownish purple spots, opening widely, ca. 8 mm across. Pedicel and ovary ca. 7 mm. Sepals similar, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, ca. 5 X 1 mm, acute. Petals linear to narrowly oblong, ca. 4 X 0.5 mm, acute. Lip oblong-ovate, ca. 4 X 1.5 mm, 3-lobed near base, mid-lobe ligulate, 3–4 mm, acute, lateral lobes broadly ovate, ca. 1 mm, apex obtuse, margin irregularly erose, disk with a pair of small, fleshy oblong calli at mouth of spur; spur spreading horizontally or ascending, slender, ca. 9 mm, acute. Column ca. 2 mm.
Distribution: Nepal, W Himalaya, E Himalaya, Assam-Burma.
Altitudinal range: 2000–2400 m.
Ecology: Terrestrial under Rhododendron forest.
Flowering: July — August.