Species Information - Aeridostachya gobiensis

Aeridostachya gobiensis (Schltr.) Rauschert, Feddes Repert. 94 (1983) 436

Type: Schlechter 19556 (holo B, lost)

Synonyms:

• Eria gobiensis Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1912) 655

Epiphyte, erect, stout, 40 cm high; rhizome very short, roots filiform, elongated, flexuose, glabrous; pseudobulbs oblongoid, somewhat compressed, 7 cm long, near the middle 2.7 cm wide, 3-leaved, at first covered with foliaceous sheaths; leaves erect or erect-patent, elliptic-ligulate, acute, at the base gradually narrowed into the petiole, glabrous, coriaceous, 25-33 cm long, above the middle 4-4.5 cm wide; Inflorescence arising laterally from the upper half of the pseudobulbs, short pedunculate, about half as long as the leaves, peduncle densely and shortly stellate-finely tomentose, 10 cm long, rachis cylindrical, densely many-flowered, 2.2 cm diameter (measured across the flowers); bracts minute, elliptic, obtuse, densely stellate-finely tomentose. Flowers patent, outside densely stellate-finely tomentose. Median sepal oblong, obtuse, 0.35 cm long. Lateral sepals falcate-oblique, apiculate, 0.25 cm long, strongly lobed-dilated along the front margins, mentum oblongoid, obtuse, 0.4 cm long. Petals falcate, oblong-ligulate, obtuse, glabrous; somewhat shorter than the median sepal. Lip in outline oblong-ligulate, 0.5 cm long, near the middle 0.2 cm wide, narrowly obtuse, glabrous, projecting beyond the rostellum, at the base concave, above the base with a broadly obtuse callus, in apical third 3-lobed, lateral lobes very small, obtuse, mid-lobe large, its margins on either side with two folds, basal part of the lip only slightly narrower. Column short, column-foot ligulate, in the middle with a crescent-shaped row of warts, lateral lobes of the clinandrium very small, median lobe large, subquadrate, 3-lobulate; lower margins of the stigma callose-marginate. Anther subreniform-cucullate, in front 3-lobulate, glabrous. Ovary with pedicel clavate, densely stellate-finely tomentose, 1 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1911-1914)

Note: Closely related to Eria robusta.

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