Japanese name: ササバギンラン（笹葉銀蘭） Scientific name:Cephalanthera longibracteata
[Overview]
A perennial 30–50 cm tall found in forests; a terrestrial orchid.
It has a short rhizome.
There are 6–8 leaves, which are alternate and simple, ovate-lanceolate, 7–15 cm long and 1.5–3 cm wide.
The leaves are soft and rather thin in texture.
The leaf margins are entire.
The leaf base clasps the stem.
There are short white hair-like projections on the undersides and margins of the leaves and on the flower stalk.
A raceme bears several white flowers sparsely.
The bracts are linear, and the 1–2 on the lower part of the flower stalk are especially long.
The flowers open only about halfway; the sepals are lanceolate, 1.1–1.2 cm long, and the lateral petals are shorter and broader than the sepals.
The lip has yellowish-brown ridges.
The base of the lip forms a tubular spur.
[Notes]
The Japanese name comes from the shape of the leaves and the color of the flowers.
