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
Plant epiphytic or rarely terrestrial of variable habit.Stems pseudobulbous or cane like with 2-many leaves.Leaves flat or terete, thin textured or coriaceous.Inflorescence terminal or axillary, racemose or rarely 1 flowered.Flowers small to medium in size, often inconspicuous; rachis often hirsute or woolly. sepals free glabrous or hirsute; lateral sepals adenate to the elongate column foot to form a short to long spur like or gibbous mentum.Lip sessile on column foot and incumbent.Column short broad often 2 winged, foot prominent; anther imperfectly 4 loculed pollinia 8, waxy pyriform or broadly ovoid, attached in 4s, by narrow bases to viscidum.
Species Description
Plant terrestrial or epiphytic, 30-40cm tall.Stems caespitose, pendent woody covered in sheaths 5-6mm thick; sheaths tubular 2-4cm long.Leaves many along stem, linear to linear oblong, acuminate fleshy, subsessile to shortly petiolate jointed sheathing at base, 9-27 x 0.2-1cm.Inflorescence 2-4, terminal fasciculate to paniculate densely many flowered; peduncle sheathed woolly pubescent, 3.5-8cm long; sheaths long lanceolate rachis woolly pubescent, 4-23cm long; floral bracts lanceolate, acuminate falcate, glabrous refle x ed, 4-8 x 2-2.5mm.Flowers acrid scented 3-5mm across; sepals pale yellowish green, petal;s lip and column pale lavender with brownish-purple blotches lip callus white pedicel and ovary woolly pubescent, 3-7mm long.Sepals 3-5 x 2-2.5mm; dorsal sepal ovate; lateral sepal striangular, weakly falcate, spreading puberulent e x ternally.Petals elliptic obovate margins weakly erose 3-4 x 1.5-2mm.Lip 3 lobed 3-4 x 2-4.2mm; lateral lobes oblong, weakly falcate,subacute porrect mid lobe broadly suborbicular decurved margins erose; disc 2 callose; basal callus rounded, with a large cylindric callus from base to ape x , both mealy.Column stout c 3mm long; foot narrow. fruit narrowly cylindric, 1-1.9 x 0.15-0.25cm.
