Plants 40-100 cm tall. Rhizome inconspicuous. Pseudobulbs ovoid-cylindric, 1-3 × 1-2 cm, with 2 or 3 sheaths. Leaves 3 or 4, well developed and spreading at anthesis, not deciduous; blade elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, 20-60 × 5-12 cm, glabrous or sometimes puberulent abaxially, apex acute; petiole-like base 10-18 cm. Scape arising from leaf axil, erect, 30-70 cm, puberulent; rachis 5-20 cm, densely many flowered; floral bracts persistent, ovate-lanceolate, 10-20 mm, puberulent or sometimes nearly glabrous. Flowers white, occasionally purplish red, later turning orange, turning black when dried; pedicel and ovary 30-40 mm, puberulent. Dorsal sepal recurved, subelliptic, 10-12 × 4.5-5.5 mm, abaxially puberulent, 5-veined, apex acute or apiculate; lateral sepals recurved, obovate-lanceolate, slightly oblique, 10-13 × 5-6 mm, abaxially puberulent, 5-veined. Petals recurved, obovate-lanceolate, 8-10 × 3-4.5 mm, abaxially puberulent, 3-veined, base clawed; lip adnate to entire length of column wings, 12-18 × ca. 14 mm, deeply 3-lobed; lateral lobes oblong to narrowly obovate-cuneate, ca. 7 × 3 mm, apex obtuse; mid-lobe divided by a deep sinus into 2 lobules, shortly apiculate in sinus; lobules divergent, linear-oblong, ca. as large as lateral lobes, ca. 3 mm wide; disk with 3 or 4 rows of small, golden or orange-red, wartlike calli at base; spur straight, white, cylindric, (6-)12-15 mm, slender, outside sparsely puberulent, apex obtuse. Column ca. 5 mm, dilated at apex, sparsely puberulent; rostellum 2-lobed; lobes suboblong, ca. 2 mm, apex subtruncate; pollinia clavate, unequal in size, 2-4 mm, with conspicuous caudicles; viscidium subelliptic, small. Fl. Apr-May. 2n = 18, 20, 40, 42.
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Pseudobulbs crowded, ovoid, 40–80 × 20–40 mm. Leaves stalked, 4–9 per pseudobulb, 400–900 × 100–180 mm, dark green, pleated. Flower stem 500–1500 mm tall, multiflowered. Flowers crowded, 25–35 mm across, white, readily bruising purplish. Dorsal sepal 10–12 × 6–7 mm, erect, pointed. Lateral sepals widely spreading, 11–13 × 6–7 mm, pointed. Petals obliquely erect, 8–10 × 3–4 mm. Labellum deeply 3-lobed; lateral lobes c. 8 mm long, curved, widely divergent; midlobe c. 1 long, deeply notched, lobes widely divergent. Callus yellow. Spur c. 20 mm long, narrow, curved. [See also Calanthe triplicata in Green (1994: 534)-7 March 2022.]
Widespread and common, growing in humus-rich soils and sites of litter accumulation in shady locations in moist forests, particularly rainforest but also near streams and on sheltered slopes in more open habitats; plants are often seen perched on boulders, rotting logs and stumps, the roots penetrating litter and decaying wood.
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