• Family : ORCHIDACEAE
  (Orchid Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : ORCHID FAMILY (ऑर्चिड फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : ORCHIDACEAE
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Pholidota pallida Lindl.
• Habit : Herb
• Comments / notes : Occasional on hills above 1200m, in shade of shola forests on trees.
• Key identification features : Epiphytic pseudobulbous herb, pendulous. Bulbs ovate-cylindrical. Leaf single, elliptic-lanceolate, acute at apex, basally 3-nerved, narrowing in to petiole. Inflorescence arises at top of the pseudobulb, pendulous. Flowers 2-3 mm long, enclosed in persistent floral bracts
• Flower, Fruit : August-May
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Vishakapatnam district, East Godavari district, Srikakulam district
  • Karnataka : Shivamogga district, Dakshina Kannada district, Chikkamagaluru district, Udupi district
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : Pune district, Sindhudurg district
  • Odisha : Mayurbhanj district, Dhenkanal district, Keonjhar district
  • Tamil Nadu : Namakkal district
• World Distribution : India incl. Andaman, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, China, Bhutan, Malay Peninsula, Pacific Islands, Australia, Indo-China
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 3; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa; B. D. Sharma, S. Karthikeyan & N. P. Singh 1996 - Flora of Maharashtra state - Monocotyledons; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983.; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Pholidota pallida. Downloaded on 3 April 2025.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)