Aerides multiflora (The Multi-Flowered Aerides)
The stem is 10–25 cm long, enclosed in persistent leaf sheaths. Leaves are numerous, distichous, oblong, 15–25 × 1.3–2.0 cm, curved, deeply channelled above, and keeled beneath, with a bi-lobed apex. The inflorescence is racemose, pendulous, 15–30 cm long, and densely many-flowered, with triangular-ovate floral bracts measuring 2–4 mm in length. The pedicel and ovary are 1.0–1.2 cm long. Flowers, 2–3 cm in diameter, have sepals and petals that range from white to pinkish-purple, with apexes often spotted with darker amethyst-purple, while the lip is light amethyst-purple and the column is white. The dorsal sepal is ovate-oblong, 1.1–1.2 × 0.6–0.7 cm, with an obtuse apex, and the lateral sepals are orbicular, approximately 9 × 8 mm, and decurrent on the column foot. Petals are elliptic-oblong, about 1.1 × 0.4–0.5 cm, with an obtuse apex. The lip is clawed, geniculate, and 3-lobed, with a convex structure and recurved margins; the lateral lobes are small and erect, while the mid-lobe is cordate to hastate-ovate, 1.3–1.5 × 1.3–1.4 cm, with a slightly erose margin and an obtuse or truncate apex. A fleshy, incurved, 2-lobed callus is present at the base of the mid-lobe, and the spur is porrect, straight, compressed, and 4–5 mm long. The column is 3–4 mm long, with a beaked apex and a beak 2–3 mm long, and the foot has two rounded auricles. The capsule is subclavate, measuring 1.6–2.5 × 0.5–0.8 cm.
Etymology: The genus name Aerides is derived from the Greek word aer, meaning “air,” and the suffix -ides, meaning “resembling,” referring to the epiphytic growth habit of these orchids, which seem to grow suspended in the air. The specific epithet multiflora comes from the Latin words multi, meaning “many,” and flora, meaning “flowers,” referring to the plant’s characteristic of bearing numerous flowers.
