Orchid Encyclopedia

Japan's atsumori-so, bearing a large red-purple pouched flower at the top of the stem. It grows in grassland and open woods in cold parts of Hokkaido and Honshu and is designated a Specified Class I Nationally Rare Species; plants on sale are artificially propagated.

A small orchid of lawns, banks and other familiar grassland. Tiny pink flowers spiral up a slender spike, the twisted spike giving it its Japanese name. Left- and right-handed spirals occur in roughly equal numbers, and white and other variant forms exist.

A tiny Cypripedium that spreads two rounded, heart-shaped leaves horizontally and hangs a flower only 1-2 cm across beneath them. Because the flower sits just above the ground, it is easy to miss without lifting the leaves.

A small terrestrial orchid of damp rock faces in the hills of Japan and southern Korea. Between narrow leaves it bears a few to dozens of small purple-pink flowers, and many cultivars with different lip markings and colours have been raised.

A tiny terrestrial orchid endemic to Japan, growing in rock crevices in gorges from central Honshu westwards and on Shikoku. About 10 cm tall, it opens pink-purple flowers about 1 cm across in April and May and is nicknamed the fairy of the gorges.

A Cypripedium with two large fan-shaped leaves held opposite each other, between which a large pouched flower faces sideways. The white lip is patterned purple-brown, and it forms large colonies on the floor of bamboo and cedar woods.

An unusual summer-flowering Calanthe with spikes of pale purple flowers in July and August, back-curving sepal tips and a finely frilled lip. Sensitive to heat, dryness and viruses, it is hard to keep long-term.

A montane Calanthe whose yellow-green flowers carry a wrinkled, reddish-brown hanging lip, likened to a monkey's face. It grows on the floor of cool mountain forests such as beech woods and dislikes summer heat.

A showy Calanthe bearing many large, bright yellow flowers from late winter to spring. Both flowers and plant are larger than C. discolor, the blooms have a citrus-like scent, and it is a key parent of Calanthe hybrids.