Family Description
Plants perennial, terrestrial, epiphytic or lithophytic, sometimes mycotrophic; growth monopodial or sympodial; roots adventitious, often aerial, sometimes assimilatory. Stems usually leafy, often with one or more swollen internodes forming pseudobulbs. Leaves usually entire, alternate or opposite, often distichous, plicate or convolute; membranous to coriaceous, often terete or reduced to scale-like bracts, usually sheathed. Inflorescences erect or pendent; spicate, racemose or paniculate, 1- to many-flowered; basal, lateral or terminal. Flowers small to large; zygomorphic; sessile or variously pedicellate; resupinate or non-resupinate. Sepals three, free or connate; dorsal sepal often dissimilar to lateral sepals; lateral sepal sometimes adnate to the column to form a saccate, conical or spur-like mentum. Petals three (medial petal distinguished from the others as the lip), usually free. Lip entire or variously lobed, often with ornamented calluses, with or without a basal spur or nectary. Column short or long, with or without a basal foot, winged or lacking wings; fertile anther one (rarely two or three), terminal or incumbent, cap-like or dehiscing; pollen often agglutinated into discrete masses called pollinia; pollinia mealy, waxy or horny, soft or hard, sectile or not, 2,4,6 or 8, sessile or attached by caudicles or stipes to one or two viscidia forming a pollinarium; stigma 3-lobed, midlobe often modified to form a rostellum. Ovary inferior, unilocular with parietal placentation or rarely 3-locular with axile placentation. Fruit a capsule, usually opening laterally; seeds numerous, dust-like.
Genus Description
Plants terrestrial. Stems ascending to erect, with decumbent rhizome, rooting at nodes. Leaves cauline, few, petiolate, usually clustered at base in rosette, dark velvet-green with white reticulations, purplish beneath. Inflorescence a laxy flowered raceme. Flowers showy. Sepals and petals free; lateral sepals spreading, oblique; petals connivent with dorsal sepals to form a hood. Lip 3-lobed, adnate to column base, spreading; hypochile spurred or saccate, broadly conical to cylindric, extending beyond the lateral sepals; mesochile channelled, lobulate, densely fimbriate to toothed; epichile with divergent, 2-lobed blade; spur with 2 short, broadly peltate glands. Column short, fleshy in front, with a pair of parallel wings or keels, elongate; rostellum prominent, not twisted; clinandrium cup-shaped, membranous; anther versatile; stigmas 2, lateral; pollinia 2, glandular.
Species Description
Plant up to 30cm tall. Leaves petiolate, ovate to ovate-oblong, acute, in basal rosette, velvety, purplish-red with golden reticulation, 3-7 x 2-5.5cm wide; petiole e x panded at base, glabrous, 0.5-1cm long. Inflorescence la x y 2- to 15-flowered; peduncle glandular-pubescent, 15-20cm long, with 3 to 5 oblong sheathing bracts; rachis 6-15cm long; floral bracts lanceolate, acute, glandular hairy, 0.5-1.7cm long. Flowers resupinate, up to 20 cm long; sepals and petals pale pink-white, lip white; pedicel and ovary glandular-pubescent, 1-1.5cm long. Sepals subequal, glandular-pubescent e x ternally, 0.4-1 x 0.2-0.4cm; dorsal sepal broadly ovate, acuminate, ape x recurved; lateral sepal oblong, acute. Petals obliquely oblanceolate, acute, apices hooked, 4-7mm long. Lip 3-lobed, 1-2cm long; hypochile spurred, with 2 calluses; mesochile irregularly toothed; epichile 2-lobed, lobes linear-oblong, obtuse, recurved; spur tapering to a minute, 2-lobed ape x , with 2 large warty glands, 4-5mm long. Column stout, with 2 large basal appendages, 2-4.3mm long; stigmas 2, elliptic; rostellum ovate, fleshy; pollinaria 8-9mm long.
