Paphiopedilum tonsum (Rchb. f.) Pfitzer 1895 SUBGENUS Paphiopedilum SECTION Barbata
Plant and Flower in situ Sumatra
Photos by © David Kuehn
to 
Common Name The Bald Paphiopedilum [Refers to the flowers having no hairs]
Flower Size about 4" [to 10 cm]
Found in Borneo and Sumatra in shady pockets of leaf litter over limestone at elevations of 1000 to 1800 meters as a small sized to medium sized, cool growing herbaceous-humus epiphyte with oblong-elliptic, deep green mottled with gray green leaves with purple undersides that blooms in the fall and winter on an erect, terminal, 12 to 15" [30 to 37.5 cm] long, purple marked, single flowered inflorescence with an elliptic-lanceolate floral bract.
Synonyms Cordula tonsa [Rchb.f] Rolfe 1912; *Cypripedium tonsum Rchb. f. 1883; Paphiopedilum tonsum f. alboviride Braem 1998
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Atlas des Orchidees Cultivees Constantin 1920 as Cypripedium tonsum drawing fide; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965; Die Orchideen 3 Auflage Bd 1 Sonderabdruck aus Schlechter Lieferung 3 129 to 192; Brieger, Maatsch and Senghas 1971 drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 42 No 5 1978 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 49 No 4 1980 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 44 No 3 1980 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 45 No 1 1981 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 49 No 3 1985 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 55 No 3 1991 drawing/photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 59 No 3 1995 photo fide; The Genus Paphiopedilum vol 1 Braem 1998; The Genus Paphiopedilum vol 2 Braem 1999; Australian Orchid Review Vol 65 No 6 2000 photo as P tonsum f alboviride; Rudolf Schlechter Die Orchideen Band 1C lieferung 40 pg 2492 - 2564 Brieger 2000; Orchids of Sumatra Comber 2001; A to Z of South East Asian Orchid Species Vol 1 O'Byrne 2001 photo fide; Orchid Digest Vol 76 #4 2012 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 82 #3 2013 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 85 #7 2016 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 86 # 7 2017 AS p TONSUM VAR LABOVIRIDE photo fide;
Paphiopedilum tonsum var. curtisifolium
Photo courtesy of Joseph Dougherty
A variety of the previous species.
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