''Phalaenopsis difformis'', also known as the dark brown ''Phalaenopsis'', is a species of epiphytic

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...

native to Assam, Borneo, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Laos, Malaya, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam and West Himalaya.

Taxonomy

This species has a complex taxonomic history and has been previously assigned to several genera. Within this species two variations, ''Phalaenopsis difformis'' var. ''difformis'' and ''Phalaenopsis difformis'' var. ''kinabaluensis'' (J.J.Wood, A.L.Lamb & Shim) Kocyan & Schuit., are formally recognized.

Description

The very short-stemmed plants bear few, coriaceous, elliptic-oblong, flat, spreading leaves between 7-16 cm in length and 3-4 cm in width. The flowers are of unusual shape for the genus and arise between late June to early July from pendulous, many-flowered, 20-30 cm long inflorescences, which exceed the leaves in length. The many-flowered inflorescences resemble a flying swarm of insects. The greenish-yellow flowers with brown bands are 1.2 cm wide. The most striking feature is the unusual shape of the labellum. It is much longer than the sepals and the recurved side lobes have a pectinate (i.e. comb-like) margin. This species has often been found growing on '' Glochidion heyneanum var. heyneanum'' (syn. ''Glochidion velutinum'') trees at altitudes of 20 m in evergreen forests.Huda, M. K., Hoque, M. M., & Alam, M. O. (2020). Three new Angiospermic (Orchidaceae) records from Bangladesh. Jahangirnagar University Journal of Biological Sciences, 9(1-2), 123-132.

Ecology

This species are lithophytes or epiphytes.Teoh, E. S. (2016)
"Medicinal orchids of Asia"
(Vol. 16, No. 4). Cham: Springer.

Etymology

The specific epithet ''difformis'' is derived from Latin meaning misshapen or illformed.Alrich, Peggy & Higgins, Wesley. (2016)
"Phalaenopsis difformis."
26. 20-21. This refers to the highly unusual labellum.

Conservation

The IUCN has not assessed this species conservation status. It is however protected unter the CITES appendix II regulations of international trade.

References

difformis Orchids of Vietnam Orchids of Indonesia Orchids of Thailand Orchids of Nepal Orchids of Myanmar Orchids of Laos Orchids of Bangladesh Orchids of India Orchids of China Epiphytic orchids Lithophytic orchids {{Phalaenopsis-stub