Bletilla striata (Thunb.) Rchb.f.

Purple Ground Orchid

Medium sized terrestrial. Stems to 60 cm tall. Pseudobulbs almost spherical, to 10 cm long, compressed. Leaves 3?5, lanceolate, to 50 cm long, to 7 cm wide. Flowers 4-10, to 4 cm wide; spring to summer. Sepals and petals similar, lanceolate to oblanceolate, not spreading widely, deep pink to magenta, sometimes white. Labellum about as long as petals, midlobe whitish with about 5 pinkish ridges. Syn. Bletia hyacinthina R. Br.

Tibet, China and Japan.

Source: Jeanes, J. (2005). Orchidaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Lilianae
order      Asparagales
family       Orchidaceae
genus        Bletilla Rchb.f.