Species Information - Phalaenopsis amabilis

Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume, Bijdr. (1825) 294; Tab. & Pl. Jav. Orchid. (1825) t. 44

Type:

Synonyms:

• Synadena amabilis (L.) Raf., Fl. Tellur. 4 (1836, publ. 1838) 9
• Cymbidium amabile (L.) Roxb., Fl. Ind. 3 (1832) 457
• Epidendrum amabile L., Sp. Pl. (1753) 953
  - Type: Osbeck s.n. (Java) (holo LINN)
• Phalaenopsis grandiflora Lindl., Gard. Chron. (1848) 39
  - Type: Veitch cult. s.n. (Java) (holo K)
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume var. grandiflora (Lindl.) Bateman, Sec. Cent. Orchid. Pl. (1867) t. 114
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume var. fuscata Rchb.f., Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 20 (1862) 214
  - Type: Low cult. s.n. (Borneo) (holo W)
• Phalaenopsis grandiflora Lindl. var. fuscata (Rchb.f.) Burb., The Garden 22 (1882) 118
• Phalaenopsis grandiflora Lindl. var. aurea Hort., Proc. Hort. Soc. London 4 (1864) 135
  - Type: Warner cult. s.n. (neo Select. Orchid. Pl., ser. 2 (1869) t. 7, chosen by Sweet (1969))
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume var. aurea (Hort.) Rolfe, Gard. Chron. (1886, II) 212
• Phalaenopsis grandiflora Lindl. var. ruckeri Burb., The Garden 9 (1876) 314 (nom. nud.)
  - Type: not designated
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume var. gracillima Burb., The Garden 22 (1882) 118
  - Type: Burbidge s.n. (Philippines, Palawan) (holo BM)
• Phalaenopsis gloriosa Rchb.f., Gard. Chron. (1888, I) 554
  - Type: Low cult. s.n. (no locality) (holo W)
• Phalaenopsis amabilis Rchb.f. var. aphrodite Ames subvar. gloriosa (Rchb.f.) Ames, Orchid. 2 (1908) 227
• Phalaenopsis aphrodite Rchb.f. var. gloriosa (Rchb.f.) Veitch, Man. Orch. Pl. 7 (1891) 25
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume var. fournieri Cogn., Chron. orchid. (1898) 166
  - Type: Regnier cult. s.n. (lost)
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume var. rimestadiana Linden, Lindenia 16 (1901) 35, t. 736
  - Type: Linden cult. s.n. (lost)
• Phalaenopsis rimestadiana (Linden) Rolfe, Orchid Rev. 13 (1905) 260
• Phalaenopsis rosenstromii F.M.Bailey, Queensland Agric. J. 17 (1906) 231
  - Type: Rosenstrom s.n. (Australia, Daintree R.) (holo K; iso BRI)
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume var. rosenstromii (F.M.Bailey) Nicholls, Austral. Orchid Rev. 14 (1949) 104
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume subsp. rosenstromii (F.M.Bailey) Christenson, Phalaenopsis: a monograph (2001) 190
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume var. moluccana Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 10 (1911) 193
  - Type: Schlechter 20581 (lecto AMES, chosen by Sweet)
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume subsp. moluccana (Schltr.) Christenson, Phalaenopsis: a monograph (2001) 189
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume var. papuana Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 968
  - Type: Schlechter 18409 (B, lost; lecto AMES, chosen by Sweet (1980); iso BO, E, K, L, NSW)
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume var. cinerascens J.J.Sm., Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg, sér. 2, 25 (1917) 88
  - Type: Elbert s.n. (holo BO?)
• Phalaenopsis celebica Vlooten, De Orchidee 1 (1932) 125
  - Type: van Vlooten cult. s.n. (lost)
• Phalaenopsis amabilis (L.) Blume var. ramosa van Deventer, Orchideeën 1 (1935) 94, fig. 1 & 2
  - Type: van Deventer cult. (lost)

Basionym: Epidendrum amabile

Roots many from stem below the leaves, very extensive, often over 1 m long, up to 0.8 cm diam. (usually 0.3-0.4 cm), rather flattened, smooth, branching. Stem usually descending with up-turned apex, occasionally branched near base, up to 30 cm long, 1.5 cm wide, but usually much shorter, covered by the overlapping leaf-sheaths. Leaves 2-8, crowded, distichous, more or less pendulous in large plants, up to 30 cm by 7 cm (usually around 20 by 6 cm), oblong to obovate, fleshy; tip rounded and unequally bilobed, the sharp-edged prominent keel sometimes projects briefly beyond apex. Inflorescences 1-3, emerging laterally either from leaf axil or below lowest leaf, erect and arching to 75 cm long, paniculate with usually 1-3 branches each with up to 10 flowers in a moderately spaced raceme. Peduncle 0.4-0.5 cm across, with up to 7 peduncle-scales that are largest and most sheathing at its base. Floral bract c. 0.5 cm long, triangular, deeply concave, persistent. Pedicel with ovary 2-3.5 cm long. Flower widely opening, 5-7 cm across. Sepals and petals clawed at base. Median sepal erect, elliptic, 2.7 by 2.1 cm, obtuse. Lateral sepals obliquely spreading, 3.1 by 2 cm, obliquely ovate, tapering to acute acuminate apex. Petals spreading, very broad, angular-ovate to subquadrate, 2.7 by 3.1 cm, obtuse with notches on margin near apex. Lip porrect with a short claw, 3-lobed, 2.2 by 3.5 cm (when flattened); lateral lobes erect, curving inwards to partly embrace column, oblong with clawed base, forward margin sometimes notched, obtuse; mid-lobe base broad with laterally-projecting triangular arms, then tapers to bluntly rounded upturned apex which has two long filamentous undulating lateral arms that curve back over mid-lobe; disc with large bilobed callus that is diagonally extended backwards on the upper basal corners. Column 0.8 cm long, broad, apex forming a hood over the downward-projecting anther, lateral arms short and obtuse; foot perpendicular, linear, 0.6 cm long. (After O’Byrne, 1994)

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