Peristylus plantagineus (Lindl.)
In Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 300 (1835)
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Herminium plantagineum Lindl. in Edwards's Bot. Reg. 18: t. 1499 (1832)
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Habenaria elata (Dalzell) Alston in H.Trimen, Handb. Fl. Ceylon 6(Suppl.): 280 (1931)
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Habenaria goodyeroides Hook. in Bot. Mag. 62: t. 3397 (1835), nom. illeg.
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Habenaria wightii Trimen in Syst. Cat. Fl. Pl. Ceylon: 91 (1885)
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Peristylus elatus Dalzell in Hooker's J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 3: 344 (1851)
Ecology: Terrestrial herb, 20-90cm, growing in open grassland on moist soil in ever green forest
Tuber 2, oblong elliptical
Stem robust, generally pinkish brown hue, sheathed below the leaves, pbust, generally of a pinkish-brown hue,- ~heathed below the leaves; ,heaths broad widening at the mouth, somewhat funnel-shaped, acute, the margins entire and minutely papillose, often pale yellowish-white.
Leaves+8, clustered about the middle of the stem, closely sheathing at the base, sessile, brownish-green above, pale pink-brown beneath; oblong, oblong-lanceolate to broadly elliptic or elliptic-ovate, acute, 7-23 x 2-9 cm ; margins yellowish, entire, minutely papillose; midnerve prominent beneath with 5-7 faint lateral nerves.
Inflorescence spike 9-22 cm long, erect, strict, densely and compactly many flowered, pale pinkish-brown; peduncle 4-10 em long, terete, pale brown, bracteate; bracts 1.5-2x0.4 cm, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, entire, minutely papillose, glabrous, dirty brownish-green' with a yellowish margin.
Flowers sessile, bracteate, pinkish-brown .. Bracts .unequal, the lower much longer than the ovary, the upper ones smaller, t-14x2-3 mm, subulate, lanceolate-acuminate, pale brownish-green, somewhat strongly 1-nerved.
Sepals subequal, dirty brown, very minutely denticulate, glabrous, strongly I-nerved ;
dorsal sepal 2-4'5 x 2.3 mm,' concave, oblong-ovate;
lateral sepals 2.5-5 X 1.5-25 0101, spreading, 'oblong, the margins incurved often overlapping.
Petals 2.5-4 x 2-3 mm, white, subobliquely oblong-elliptic or rarely suborbicular, obtuse, entire, glabrous, I-nerved, somewhat gland-dotted.
Lip 2-3.5 x 2-3.5 mm, smaller than the lateral sepals, white, faintly gland-dotted. broadly ovate-oblong in outline, shortly 3-lobed; very small, entire, obtuse ; base of the lip subconcave ; lip 3-nerved, midnerve running straight from the base to the apex, the 2 lateral slightly sinuate, meeting a little below the apex to form a loop across the midnerve.
Spur 1-5- 2x2 mm, saccate scrotiform
Column very short, pale green. Anther cells short, sessile on the column, divergent at the base; pollinia 2, bipartite, clavate, caudicles very small with a small, orbicular gland. Stigmatic lobes short, stout, convex. Ovary 10X 2 mm stout, curved at the apex, pale brown, ribbed.
Flowering: July to August
Fruiting: up to December