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, lithophytic or terrestrial, usually autotrophic, rarely mycotrophic(when lacking leaves); roots caespitose. Pseudobulbs short to elongate, covered by bladeless sheaths. Leaves long, oblong or rarely lanceolate, coriaceous. Inflorescence erect or curved, suberect or pendent, racemose, 1 to many flowered; peduncle loosely sheathed. Flowers often large and showy. Sepals and petals free, spreading or erect. Lip 3 lobed, sessile, borne on a short column foot; lateral lobes erect around the column; mid lobe recurved; disc with 1-3, glabrous or pubescent, ridges. Column long; pollinia 2(with deep grooves) or 4, subglobose or pyramidal, attached by a short caudicle to a broad viscidum.
Species Description
Plant epiphytic or lithophytic, 45-70cm tall. Pseudobulbs narrowly ovoid, 3-6 x 1.5-3.5cm. Leaves 4-8, linear elliptic, acute, jointed, 40-80 x 1.4-2.1cm; leaf base sheathing, 4-10cm long. Inflorescence arching to pendent, 6 to 15 flowered; peduncle suberect, loosely sheathed, c.12cm long; sheaths scarious, lanceolate ovate, acute, 8-10cm long; rachis zig zag, slender, 20-30cm long; floral bracts triangular, 4-6 x 2-3mm. Flowers strongly fragrant, 5-7cm across; sepals and petals apple green, red spotted at base, lip cream to yellow with green margins, maroon spotted and blotched, callus cream with red spots; pedicel and ovary 3.5-6cm long. Sepals subsimilar, narrowly obovate, acute, 5.6-6 x 1.7-1.9cm; dorsal sepal porrect; lateral sepals spreading. Petals oblong to narrowly obovate, curved, spreading, 5.3-5.6 x 1.2-1.4cm. Lip 3 lobed, adnate to the column base for 4.5-5.5mm; lateral lobes triangular, acute to porrect, margins ciliate, papillose, 1.1-1.6cm broad; mid lobe broadly ovate cordate, mucronate, recurved, margin erose undulate, 1.7-2 x 2.7-2.9cm; callus 2 ridged, pubescent. Column winged, pubescent papillose ventrally, 3.3-4cm long. Fruit fusiform ellipsoid, stalked, beaked.
