Family:
Orchidaceae Juss.
Genus:
Paphiopedilum Pfitzer

Paphiopedilum niveum (Rchb.f.) Stein

This species is accepted, and its native range is Peninsula Thailand to N. Peninsula Malaysia, Borneo (Tambelan Islands).

[C-EM]
Distribution

Northern Malaysia and southern Thailand; sea-level to 200 m altitude.

General Description

Terrestrial herb, often with clustered growths. Leaves 4–6, strap-shaped to narrowly elliptic, rounded and minutely emarginate at apex, 8–19 cm long, 2.4–3.6 cm wide, mottled very dark and pale green above, heavily dotted purple below, ciliate on basal margins. Inflorescence 1- or 2- flowered, 6–25 cm long; peduncle up to 20 cm long, purple, shortly but densely white-pubescent; bracts conduplicate, broadly ovate, obtuse, 11–14 mm long, 10–12 mm wide, white to pale green, spotted purple. Flowers white, often highly dotted purple towards base of segments and on front of lip, with a yellow centre to the staminode, 6–8 cm diameter, pubescent on outside and at base of petals within; ovary 4.5 cm long, green flushed with dark purple, densely shortly pubescent. Dorsal sepal very broadly ovate, obtuse to emarginate, 2.7–4.2 cm long, 3–5 cm wide. Synsepal concave, ovate, obtuse, 2–3 cm long, 1.5–3 cm wide. Petals elliptic, rounded, 3.3–4.3 cm long, 2.2–3.9 cm wide, shortly ciliate on margins. Lip rather small, ovoid to ellipsoidal, with incurved margins, 2.2–3.6 cm long, 1.5–1.8 cm wide. Staminode broader than long, transversely subelliptic, one- to three-toothed at apex, 6–9 mm long, 10–12 mm wide. 2n = 26.

Native to:

Borneo, Malaya, Thailand

Paphiopedilum niveum (Rchb.f.) Stein appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
20361.000
Malaysia 31998.000
Kerr, A.F.G. [s.n.], Thailand K000595631
Kerr, A.F.G. [0741], Thailand K000595628
Kerr, A.F.G. [s.n.], Thailand K000595629
Kerr, A.F.G. [s.n.], Thailand K000595630
K000078047
Kerr, A.F.G. [0746], Thailand K000595627

First published in Orchid.-Buch: 478 (1892)

Accepted by

  • Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Monocotyledons Database in ACCESS: 1-71827. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  • Koopowitz, H. (2012). An updated, annotated checklist of the genus Paphiopedilum Orchid Digest 76: 178-215.
  • Leong, K.F. (2013). Flora of Peninsular Malaysia - Cypripedioideae Malesian Orchid Journal 12: 117-131.
  • Leong, P.K.F. (2014). Flora of Peninsular Malaysia - Cypripedioideae Malesian Orchid Journal 13: 113-127.
  • Pedersen, H.Æ., Kurzwell, H., Suddee, S. & Cribb, P.J. (2011). Flora of Thailand 12(1): 1-302. The Forest Herbarium, National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok.

Literature

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • Leong, K.F. (2013). Flora of Peninsular Malaysia - Cypripedioideae Malesian Orchid Journal 12: 117-131.

Cypripedioideae: e-monocot.org

  • Reichenbach, H.G. Original description of Paphiopedilum niveum. (1892).

  • Cypripedioideae: e-monocot.org

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  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

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