Crepidium purpureum(Lindl.) Szlach.

WFO wfo-0000927004 Accepted WFO 2026-06 3 photographs CC0

Plate 1 figs. a–c · 1 observation

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 1 time, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Crepidium purpureum, photographed by 葉子
fig. a 葉子, CC0 1.0 / 2019-07-24 / obs. 46336097
Crepidium purpureum, photographed by 葉子
fig. b 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 46336085
Crepidium purpureum, photographed by 葉子
fig. c 葉子, CC0 1.0 / obs. 46336060

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 15 botanical countries

Regions where Crepidium purpureum is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, East Himalaya, India, Laos, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya China South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanEast HimalayaIndiaLaosNepalPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiThailandVietnamWest Himalaya Nansei-shoto
Native distribution of Crepidium purpureum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL
India IND
Laos LAO
Nepal NEP
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Nansei-shoto NNS
Taiwan TAI

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 15 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Crepidium bilobum (Lindl.) Szlach. ex Lucksom
  • Crepidium hainanense (Tang & F.T.Wang) S.C.Chen & J.J.Wood
  • Crepidium rizalense (Ames) M.A.Clem. & D.L.Jones
  • Malaxis acuminata f. biloba (Lindl.) Tuyama
  • Malaxis acuminata var. biloba (Lindl.) Ames
  • Malaxis biloba (Lindl.) Ames
  • Malaxis hainanensis Tang & F.T.Wang
  • Malaxis liparidioides Tang & F.T.Wang
  • Malaxis lombasangensis (J.J.Sm.) S.Thomas, Schuit. & de Vogel
  • Malaxis purpurea (Lindl.) Kuntze
  • Malaxis rizalensis Ames
  • Microstylis biloba Lindl.
  • Microstylis lombasangensis J.J.Sm.
  • Microstylis purpurea Lindl.
  • Microstylis wallichii var. biloba King & Pantl.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.