Orchidaceae
Paphiopedilum

Paphiopedilum charlesworthii (Rolfe) Pfitzer

First published in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 19: 40 (1894)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Assam (Mizoram) to China (W. Yunnan). It is an epiphyte and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: low confidence
[AERP]

Distribution

Myanmar (Shan States only), adjacent Thailand and south-west China (Yunnan); 1200–1600 m altitude.

General Description

A terrestrial herb. Leaves oblong-elliptic or linear-oblong, acute and tridenticulate at apex, up to 15 cm long, 2.8 cm wide, green above, spotted purple near base below. Inflorescence 1- flowered; peduncle 8–15 cm long, shortly pubescent, pale green, heavily spotted maroon; bract obovate, very obtuse, 2.9–3.2 cm long, 1.4–2 cm wide, pale green, spotted deep maroon, ciliate. Flower up to 8 cm across; dorsal sepal pink with darker veins or rarely white; petals pale yellow-green with brown, reticulate venation; lip pinkish brown with darker veins; staminode white; pedicel and ovary 2.8–3.9 cm long, with maroon hairs, pale green, spotted dark maroon. Dorsal sepal transversely elliptic to circular, obtuse, 4.4–5.7 cm long, 4.7–6.6 cm wide, sides spreading or reflexed, finely pubescent on outer surface. Synsepal much smaller, elliptic, subacute, 3.8–4 cm long, 2–2.8 cm wide, pale yellow, flecked and veined pale purple, finely pubescent without. Petals spreading, more or less horizontal, slightly incurved, ligulate-spathulate, obtuse, 4–4.4 cm long, 1–1.6 cm wide, slightly ciliate towards apex. Lip with a wide mouth to sack, 3.8–4.3 cm long, 2.6–2.7 cm wide, very hairy within. Staminode obovate, 9–10 mm long, 10 mm wide, glabrous, with a central raised yellowish boss. 2n = 26.

[C-EM]

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/201857/2723460

Conservation
EN - endangered
[IUCN]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Cypripedioideae: e-monocot.org

    • All Rights Reserved

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2026. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images