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 small, epiphytic or lithophytic; rhizome branched, short. Pseudobulbs 1 noded, ovoid to obliquely ovoid.Leaves arising from pseudobulb apex, narrowly elliptic to linear petiolate or subsessile. Inflorescence proteranthous, hysteranthous or heteranthous racemose, 1-several flowered.Flowers small to medium in size.Sepals and petals subsimilar free. lip entire or 3 lobed, sigmoidally curved at base; callous or ecallous.Column slender, incurved, hooded at apex; foot short; pollinia 4, waxy, superposed.
Species Description
Plant epiphytic or lithophytic, 9-20cm tall; rhizome creeping, covered with closely overlapping scales.Pseudobulbs caespitose, ellipsoid to ovoid, smmoth and glossy when fresh, sheathed at base, 1.7-3.5 x 0.4-1.5cm; sheaths oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, scarious 1.7-4 x 1-1.3cm.Leaves 2, linear oblong acute to acuminate, coriaceous, 3-5 veined, subsessile, 5-7 x 0.6-1.2cm; petiole grooved, 5-8mm long. Inflorencences proteranthous or heteranthous, erect lateral, 1 flowered; peduncle c 1.8cm long; floral bract ovate, acute persistent, 4-5mm long.Flower 2-2.5cm across.Pale apricot to yellowish, lip with 3-7 orange spots on lateral lobes; pedicel and ovary 0.8-1.6cm long.Sepals 1.3-1.7 x 0.8-1cm; Lateral lobes short, falcate, weakly saccate at base, 7-9 x 2mm; mid lobe c 2mm long. Fruit obovoid to ellipsoid, 1.7-2.2 x 1-1.2cm.
