Pachystoma nutans, an undescribed orchid from Myanmar
垂花粉口兰,缅甸兰科一新种

Pachystoma is a small orchid genus of some four species ranging from India and southern China through Indochina, Malaysia and Indonesia to the Philippines, New Guinea and Caledonia. The type specimen of this new species was found in the herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (E) mixed with unidentified specimens of Eulophia during the senior author's visit there late in June of 2001. Many specimens of Pachystoma, as well as some of Eulophia, lack leaves probably due to the similarity of their leaves to those of some kinds of sympatric grasses, such as Imperata, and therefore being overlooked (Schlechter 1914), or the absence of leaves during the period of flowering. In these cases, some species of Pachystoma were said to be saprophytic, and others misidentified as belonging to Eulophia.Acknowlegment The senior author wants to express his sincere thanks to the Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden for a grant to visit and study the orchid collections in European herbaria, to the curators of E for making the specimens available, to Dr. Y. Z. Wang for his kind help, and to Mrs. Cai Su-qing for preparing the drawing of this new species.