Paphiopedilum insigne

Distribution

This species is native to the Khasi hills in the Indian states of Assam and Meghalaya, and the adjoining Sylhet region of Bangladesh. It is also reported from northwest Yunnan in China. It was originally described based a specimen from Sylhet, but because there have been no further reports of this species from this region, it could be extinct there due to over collection and habitat destruction. Reports from Thailand and Myanmar are uncertain or erroneous and if ever present there this species is likely extinct there.

Habitat

It grows in humus and debris in crevices and among grasses and shrubs on steep open dolomitic limestone rock slopes and cliffs above streams, rivers and waterfalls at an altitude of 1000–1600 meters. Unique pictures of the plant in its natural habitat can be viewed here.

Varieties

Many varieties are given in 19th and early 20th century literature, but not all were formally described and most are synonyms. The type variety is mooreana, which is shown in the photo together with variety sanderae, the semi-alba color form. The painting shows the diverse forms of the variety montanum, which isn't really a variety but rather a product name that 19th century European importers used to describe a series of varieties and forms with narrower leaves and richly marked flowers that were harvested from a different mountain region than the ones imported before. Nathaniel Wallich sent the first living insigne plants to the UK from the Sylhet region. Later William Griffith discovered it in the Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. The variety sanderae came out of an importation of montanum by Frederick Sander. It was sold in 1890 at £250, the equivalent of about £35,000 in 2021.

Conservation status

Due to ruthless collection for international trade in the 19th and 20th century, current poaching for regional trade, and destruction of its habitat, the species has become very rare.