Epiphyte. Stems erect, clavate with thickened apex, 10 to 18 cm in height with the apex 2 to 4 cm in diameter, boldly angled. Leaves two or three, from the apex of the stem, ovate-lanceolate, acute, narrowed to the base, coriaceous, 7 to 12 cm long and 2 to 4 cm in width. Flowers in racemose from the apex of the stem, pendulous, decurved, longer than the leaves, but laxly flowered. The peduncle with bracts at its base and apex. Flowers 2 to 3 cm across, sepals and petals are of an uniform shade of pale pink, lip almost white with a bright yellow spot on its base, almost covering half the disc. Sepals ovate-oblong, with entire edges, acute. Petals broader than the sepals, rotund, with fringed margins. Both sepals and petals three to five nerved. Lip orbicular, disc pubescent with fringed margins.
The Pursuit
A very rare plant of the tropical valleys. I had never seen this species in the Sikkim-Himalayas, got a few from various locations only. I had strictly followed the principle of not exposing rare plants to the local people around for its safety. If exposed they will remove them from their natural habitats to decorate their homes. The clavate shape of its stem, that also in solitary, attracts attention of everyone, may be that is the reason it disappeared from its natural habitats. I found only four plants from the whole region. Starting early summer I visited all the four plants I spotted on a regular basis. The villagers always make a lot of enquiries about new flower finds, and make it difficult to hide informations from them as they also go through photos on my iPad. Finally by the end of March, raceme started appearing and I decided it is time to take a call on which plant I planned to shoot. I wanted the best flowering buds, at the same time, I want to make sure nobody of that area notices my interest in that plant. One of the healthy plant was on the side of a trek road to a near by village. The path is frequented by villagers so I would end up attracting a crowd if I explore that tree. My second option was a huge tree which needed more climbing skills. Hence decided on a plant which got a short raceme than the others. This plant was on a tree inside a thick forest area not frequented by anyone because of the presence of law and order officials and elephants. High temperatures, thorny bushes, frequent forest fires make regular survey in those areas very difficult. When I deal with a single plant, I have to put extra efforts also. I knew there is no guarantee to find this plant in the coming seasons. Waited patiently for the buds to be in flower. Luckily I got a friend, an official, of that area who was so kind enough to come with me several times to the location of the plant. He was so impressed with my work and seeing my difficulty in climbing the tree regularly, he decided to make a 50 ft high bamboo ladder for me. In no time, he made a ladder with the help of two of his colleagues. After three more days of wait I got a few flowers in bloom and produced this wonderful photograph.