Podochilus malabaricus

Binomial: Podochilus malabaricus
Sinhala: මහා පද්ම[Maha patma]

Podochilus malabaricum is a wild orchid found in lowland wet and submontane zone. It is one of the four species of orchids found in Sri Lanka which belong to the genus Podochilus. It is morphologically more similar to the recently described species Podochilus warnagalensis (Wijewardana et al. 2016). The color of the flower is a mixture of white and pink and the plant has partially opened flowers even when fully bloomed. Above photographed one was found in "Sri Pada” Peak Wilderness sanctuary in April, 2015

References:

• An Annotated Checklist of the Orchids of Sri Lanka, Samantha Suranjan Fernando and Paul Ormerod
• Podochilus warnagalensis (Orchidaceae), a new species from Sri Lanka ISHARA H. WIJEWARDANA, THARAKA S. PRIYADARSHANA, NANDUN S. ARANGALA, ANUSHA G. ATTHANAGODA, RAKITHA T.B. SAMARAKOON, PANKAJ KUMAR