About Nervilia simplex (Thouars) Schltr.
Nervilia simplex (Thouars) Schltr. produces one leaf each year from its tuber. The tuber is somewhat round to egg-shaped, whitish, sparsely covered with root knobs, and measures 1–2 cm (0.4–0.8 inches) across. The leaf is 2.5 cm (0.98 in) long and 2.5 cm (0.98 in) wide, kidney-shaped to nearly circular, with shallow rounded teeth and a pointed tip. Its base is heart-shaped; the abaxial side (facing away from the stem) is pale green, while the adaxial side (facing toward the stem) is darker green, with fine white branched veins and small sparse bristles. The leaf has 7 main veins, and its erect stalk is about 2 cm (0.79 in) long. The erect green flower stalk grows from the top of the tuber, is 4–5 cm (1.6–2.0 in) long, and bears a single flower. The flower bract is small, egg-shaped to lance-shaped, and pointed. Flowers open widely, twisting as they open, and measure 2–4 cm (0.79–1.57 in) across. The outer tepals (sepals) are yellowish green with faint grey lines, narrow, 2–2.5 cm (0.79–0.98 in) long and 0.12–0.25 cm (0.047–0.098 in) wide, with a sharp to tapering point. The inner tepals (petals) are creamy white, narrowly lance-shaped, 1.8–2.3 cm (0.71–0.91 in) long and 0.1–0.2 cm (0.039–0.079 in) wide. The flower lip is strongly reflexed above the middle, creamy white, with a light purple mid lobe. This mid lobe is rhombic, fringed, white at the base, with a yellowish patch at the centre, measuring 1.5–1.8 cm (0.59–0.71 in) long and 0.8–1.3 cm (0.31–0.51 in) wide when flattened. The lip has no spur, is either entire or 3-lobed, loosely embraces the column, has an irregularly jagged or fringed margin at its tip, and has a ridge extending from the base to the tip of its disk. The column is club-shaped, 0.6–0.8 cm (0.24–0.31 in) long, with a relatively large tip, and the stigma is somewhat round. The fruit stalk is about 17 cm (6.7 in) long, bearing capsules 1–1.5 cm (0.39–0.59 in) long and 0.5 cm (0.20 in) wide; the flower’s tepals partially cover the capsule even after drying. Nervilia simplex is a terrestrial ground-dwelling orchid. It grows on open forest floors covered with dry pine needles, at elevations between 300–1,500 metres (980–4,920 feet). It occurs in India (in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, and more recently Himachal Pradesh), Nepal, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indo-China, New Guinea, Africa, and Australia.
