Plant terrestrial, tall and robust, with a decumbent, 
sparsely rooting stem, up to about 187.5 cm. long in- 
cluding the erect inflorescence. Roots very remote, soli- 
tary, fibrous, rather stout, finely pubescent. Stem en- 
tirely concealed by appressed, imbricating, evanescent, 
leaf-bearing, tubular sheaths of which the lower ones are 
scarious and disintegrating into fibres and the middle and 
upper ones are green and leaf-bearing. Leaves elliptic 
or elliptic-oblong, acuminate to a sharp point, long- 
narrowed below to an articulated base, submembrana- 
ceous, plicate, with five to seven prominent nerves, about 
14-17 cm. long, up to 8.8 cm. wide. Inflorescence spring- 
ing from the axil of one of the middle leaves, up to 52 
em. high; peduncle dull lavender, glabrous, about 48 cm. 
or less long, remotely provided with about six short, 
tubular, acute sheaths; raceme very loosely few- (about 
9-) flowered, the rachis about 9 cm. or less long. Floral 
bracts small, narrowly lanceolate, concave, equaling 
about half of the pedicellate ovary which is up to 2.3 cm. 
long. Flowers rich purple, subfleshy, with the sepals 
projecting backward and the petals erect. Sepals longitu- 
dinally concave. Dorsal sepal when expanded lanceolate- 
oblong, obtuse or acute, about 1.5 cm. long and 4.4 mm. 
wide. Lateral sepals similar, obliquely lanceolate-oblong, 
obtuse or acute, about 1.6 cm. long and 6 mm. wide. 
Petals distinctly shorter and broader than the sepals, oval 
to oblong-elliptic, obtuse to subacute, somewhat concave, 
up to 1.2 cm. long and 7 mm. wide, the margins often 
somewhat irregular. Lip simple, clawed, with involute, 
undulate margins; claw short but distinct, abruptly di- 
lated from an oblong base, about 3 mm. long, provided 
with acentral fleshy keel that divides abruptly into two 
diverging branches; lamina gently recurved, triangular- 
ovate, rounded at the apex when expanded, conspicu- 
ously cordate at the base, about 1.1 cm. long in the cen- 
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