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, 45-85cm tall. Pseudobulbs narrowly ovoid,, 5-17 x 2-6cm. Leaves c.10, linear elliptic, acute, mid green, 35-90 x 1.5-4.2cm; leaf base sheathing, yellow green, 6-15cm long. Inflorescence 7 to 20 flowered; peduncle sheathed, c.11cm long; rachis robust, tapering, 25-50 x 0.3-0.9cm(at base); floral bracts triangular, 2.5-5 x 2-3mm(at base). Flowers 4-8cm across, fragrant; sepals and petals yellowish green, veined red to ginger brown, lip yellowish, red spotted, lateral lobes red veined, callus yellowish spotted with maroon; pedicel and ovary 2.2-4.2cm long. Sepals subsimilar, narrowly obovate, acute, concave, porrect, 4.5-4.7 x 1.2-1.8cm. Petals oblong, curved, spreading, 4.4-4.8 x 0.7-1cm. Lip 3 lobed, adnate to the column base for 4-5mm, 1.5-2 x 1.4-1.8cm; lateral lobes triangular, porrect, margins fringed with short hairs, 1-1.2cm broad; mid lobe ovate, mucronate, recurved, sparsely hairy, margins erose, pubescent, 1.2-1.6 x 1.4-1.8mm; callus 2 ridged, pubescent ciliate. Column clavate, winged, 2.5-2.9cm long. Fruit fusiform ellipsoid, 6-8 x 3-4cm.
