Coelogyne imbricata, commonly known as the common rattlesnake orchid[1] or necklace orchid,[2] is a plant in the orchid family and is a clump-forming epiphyte or lithophyte with crowded pseudobulbs. Each pseudobulb has a single pleated, leathery leaf and up to sixty white, cream-coloured or greenish, cup-shaped flowers in two ranks along a wiry flowering stem. There is a large, papery bract at the base of each flower. This species is native to areas from tropical and subtropical Asia to the southwest Pacific.
Coelogyne imbricata is an epiphytic or lithophytic, clump forming herb with crowded pseudobulbs NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. Each pseudobulb has a single pleated, leathery, dark green, oblong to lance-shaped leaf NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide on a stalk about 50sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. Between twenty and sixty cup-shaped, white, cream-coloured or greenish resupinate flowers NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide are arranged in two rows along a wiry flowering stem NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long. There is a large, concave pinkish bract at the base of each flower. The dorsal sepal is NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide, the lateral sepals NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and about 3sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The petals are NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and about 1.5sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide. The labellum is about 4sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and 5sigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide and concave with three lobes. The side lobes are erect and the midlobe is divided again into three lobes. Flowering occurs between March and May.[3] [4]
This species of orchid was first formally described in 1825 by William Jackson Hooker who published the description in Exotic Flora.[5] [6] In 1861, Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach transferred the species to the genus Coelogyne as C. imbricata.[7] The specific epithet (imbricata) is a Latin word meaning "overlapping like roofing-tiles and shingles".[8]
The common rattlesnake orchid usually grows on trees and rocks in rainforest, sometimes in other humid, sheltered places. It occurs in China, the Indian subcontinent, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Nicobar Islands, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Peninsular Malaysia, the Maluku Islands, the Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatra, the Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Queensland, Fiji, New Caledonia, the Santa Cruz Islands and Vanuatu. In Queensland it is found on some Torres Strait Islands and on the Cape York Peninsula as far south as Townsville.