Published in Guihaia 16(2): 105. 1996.
Basionym is Herminium pugioniformis Lindley ex Hooker f., 1890, published in Flora of British India 6: 130. 1890. A synonym is Herminium nivale Schlechter, 1924, published in Särtyk ur Meddelanden från Göteborgs Botaniska Trädgård (Acta Horti Gothoburgensis) 1: 134. 1924; based on a type collected above the Huanglong valley by H. Smith July 21s t 1922.
Another synonym could be Porolabium biporosum (Maximowicz) T. Tang & F.T. Wang, 1940, published in Bulletin of the Fan Memorial Institute of Biology 10: 38. 1940.

        Androcorys pugioniformis was recorded from Huanglong by Schlechter in 1924 as Herminium nivale but hasn’t been seen in the park yet by the authors. Harry Smith found it in scree above the Huanglong valley at an altitude of perhaps 4000-4100 m (his published altitude of 4800-5000 m is likely 700 m too high). The Flora of China reports the species from coniferous forests, alpine thickets and meadows at altitudes between 3400-5200 m from eastern to southern Qinghai, northwestern Sichuan, Tibet and northwestern Yunnan. The plant carries a single leaf, is 5.5-18 cm high and has uniformly green flowers with a diameter of 2.5-3 mm. Pearce and Cribb (2002) report that A. pugioniformis resembles Porolabium biporosum (Maximovicz) T. Tang & F.T. Wang, 1940. In their publication of the genus Tang & Wang note that Porolabium differs from Herminium by the stigma which is not attached to the processes of the rostellum, but otherwise very similar to Herminium and Androcorys. The German orchidologists Ursula and Dietrich Rueckbrodt recorded Porolabium cf. biporosum from Jiuzhaigou at June 19, 1999, where it grew at approx. 2900 m in dense shrub. Further investigations in the field and in herbaria are necessary to clarify matters.

        Flowering: July-August (June).

        鲁道夫•施勒希特1924年就记载黄龙有剑唇兜蕊兰的分布，只不过当时他是以另一个名字发表的。经过多年的搜寻，我们迄今仍没有再在黄龙国家公园找到过这种兰花。哈里•思密斯在4000-4100米以上的碎石坡中看到过剑唇兜蕊兰。在《中国植物志》记载该种生长在海拔为3400-5200米高山地区的针叶林、密灌丛以及高山草甸中，主要分布青海东部、南部，四川西北部，西藏以及云南西北部。植株高5.5-18 厘米，具一枚叶，花均为绿青色，直径2.5-3毫米。皮耳思和克瑞比在2002年发表文章认为剑唇兜蕊兰和孔唇兰十分相似。孔唇兰是我国著名兰科分类学家唐进教授和汪发瓒教授在1940年共同发表的一个特有属。他们认为孔唇兰属与角盘兰属不同之处在于孔唇兰属的柱头不紧贴在蕊喙的突出物上，仅此而已，其他方面则与角盘兰属和兜蕊兰属并无差异。1999年六月19日来自德国的两位兰花爱好者在九寨沟发现了生长在海拔2900米左右密灌从中的孔唇兰植物。这个发现有助于进一步研究孔唇兰、角盘兰和兜蕊兰之间的关系。