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 epiphytic or lithophytic, monopodial. Stem simple or branched, stout, leafy. Leaves distichous, conduplicate, coriaceous, apex emarginate or 2 lobed. Inflorescence axillary, stout, recemose, corymbose, or paniculate; floral bracts inconspicuous, scale like, persistent. Flowers non resupinate, small, fleshy, fragile. Sepals and petals similar, flat to curved; lateral sepals adnate to the spur (when present). Lip saccate or with a short spur, adnate to the column, immobile, rigid, variously lobed, fleshy, papillose, tuberculate or warty, sometimes dentate; spur lacking any internal tongue or medium septum. Column short, fleshy, glabrous or papillose; stelidia 2, tooth-like; foot absent; anther ovate, apiculate; pollinia 4, globose, united in 2 pairs; caudicle thick, linear; viscidium small, oval; stigma transverse, concave; rostellum short, emarginate.
Species Description
Plant erect, 60-90cm long. Stem erect, unbranched or branched, 0.8-1cm thick, covered by distichous, overlapping leaf sheaths. Leaves distichous, fleshy coriaceous, conduplicate, curved, linear oblong, ape x unequally 2 lobed, 15-45 x 3.5-5cm. Inflorescence a x illary, subcapitate, paniculate, densely many flowered; peduncle sheathed at base; sheaths tubular, overlapping, 0.6-0.8cm long; floral bracts semi cuircular, 3-3.5 x 3.5-4.5mm. Flowers fleshy, 1.2-1.8cm across; sepals and petals yellow, spotted or marked with crimson or red brown, lip white spotted with red; pedicel and ovary thick, 1-1.3 x 0.15-0.3cm. Sepals spreading, subsimilar, free, obovate elliptic, ape x rounded, 0.9-1.4 x 0.5-0.8cm. Petals ± spreading, oblong lanceolate, falcate, obtuse, 0.9-1.2 x 0.4-0.5cm. Lip porrect, obscurely 3 lobed, 0.5-0.8 x 0.3cm; lateral lobes rounde, erect, short; mid lobe umbellate, ovate, rounded; callus a fleshy, pubescent ridge; spur short. Column stout, 0.2-0.3cm long. Fruit long cyclindric, truncate, 6-7 x 0.7-0.9cm.
