Calanthe triplicata
Calanthe triplicata commonly known as the common Christmas orchid is a plant in the orchid family and is native to Oceania, Asia, and the islands of eastern Africa. It is a terrestrial orchid that grows in clumps with crowded pseudobulbs, dark green corrugated leaves and up to forty white flowers. The sepals and petals are similar to each other and the labellum has three spreading lobes and a yellow callus. Description. "Calanthe triplicata" is a terrestrial, evergreen herb that grows in clumps and has crowded, fleshy, oval pseudobulbs long and wide. Each pseudobulb has between four and nine  dark green, lance-shaped, corrugated leaves long and wide tapering towards the base. The leaf veins are more or less parallel with between six and nine more prominent than the rest. Between eighteen and forty white flowers wide are crowded near the top of an upright flowering stem long. The sepals are egg-shaped, long and wide. The petals are a similar shape, long and wide. The labellum has three widely spreading lobes long and wide with the middle lobe further divided into two. The spur behind the labellum is long and curved. Flowering occurs from October to February in  Australia and in April and May in China. Taxonomy and naming. The common Christmas orchid was first formally described in 1796 by (Pierre) Remi Willemet, who gave it the name "Orchis triplicata" and published the description in Paul Usteri's book "Annalen der Botanick". In 1907, Oakes Ames changed the name to "Calanthe triplicata". The specific epithet ("triplicata") is derived from the Latin prefix "tris" meaning "thrice" and "plicatus" meaning "folded". Distribution and habitat. "Calanthe troplicata" is found in Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles, Assam, eastern Himalayas, southern India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, south China, Vietnam, Borneo, Java, Lesser  Sunda Islands, Moluccas, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Bismark Islands, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, Marquesas, Santa Cruz Islands, Caroline Islands, the Marianas Islands, Taiwan, Ryukyu Islands. In Australia it occurs between the Iron Range in Queensland and the Illawarra in New South Wales as well as on Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. It grows in evergreen broad-leaved forests, rainforests and other wet forests in dense shade.