NHD52/16

Lady Tankerville's swamp orchid.

Phaius tankervilleae (Banks) Blume; Orchidaceae family

Original inscriptions: 寉頂蘭 (front lower left in ink); 四月開 (reverse lower left in ink); Hoe-ting-lan (reverse lower right in pencil)

Further inscriptions: H. Sh. (front lower left in ink); Limodorum tankervilleae (front lower right in pencil)

Depiction of the so-called "Lady Tankerville's swamp orchid", showing a flowering stealth, a cut leaf, and a habit with pseudo-bulb and roots, and a small sprouting gem; dissection of the flower and the fruit. The flowering stealth shows four pendulous flowers each with four widely branched white (on the exterior) and orange (on the interior) coloured petals, a curling, crimpled white lip with fuchsia inner colouring. One brown wilting leaf accompanies the pedicel of each of the two lower flowers, and one wilted fruit with brown, crimpled edge is shown at the bottom of the stealth. One slightly open bud is depicted at the apex of the flowering stealth. On the right: globular pseudo-bulb depicted with long, thin, sinuous grey roots and a white gem shooting up on the left. The pseudo-bulb is characterised by a lower, horizontally striated half, and four, two at each side, basal leaves. Leaves cut, with vertical lines and one tube sprouting from the middle. Lower left: illustration of a dissected flower showing five elliptic orange petals, surrounding the green pedicel and white ovary, showing pistil and stamens; fuchsia lip (labellum) curling and crimpling attached to the ovary. On the right of the flowering stealth: depiction of a horizontally dissected fruit, showing internal fleshy part; the upper half of the fruit is also dissected vertically showing white fleshy parts and green skin. The fruit is oblong and has six vertically pronounced ridges, internal flesh is divided in three vertical sections. The fruit skin is green coloured. On the right, a single leaf is depicted, curling on its back. The leaf is large and wide, with pointed end, a darker shade of green on the front facing side, and a lighter shade of green on the back facing side.

Any further details: Pencil underdrawings visible. The same plant is depicted in a different format in NHD57/14.