ORCHIDACEAE  

Terrestrial (rarely epiphytic) herb with fibrous roots, sometimes with pseudobulbs. Leaves arising from a pseudobulb or spaced along stem, petiolate, plicate. Inflorescence 1- to few-flowered. Sepals and petals free, subequal; lip erect, entire or 3-lobed, spurred or saccate, with longitudinal ridges on upper surface. Column long, clavate; anther operculate, incumbent, 2-celled. Pollinia 8, in 2 groups of 4 with caudicles but no viscidia. Stigma near apex of column.

Terrestrial herb perennating by testicular tubers. Leaves dimorphic, with ovate spreading basal leaves and loosely convoluted cauline leaves. Inflorescence an erect lax spike; bracts half as long as ovaries, green to somewhat chartaceous. Flowers small, more or less resupinate, with sepals and petals not spreading; ovary twisted. Sepals free, entire, 1-nerved. Petals more or less enclosed by sepals, 3-nerved, slightly shorter than sepals. Lip shorter than sepals and petals and enclosed by them, 3-lobed and 3-nerved; side lobes blunt and shorter than mid-lobe; spur short, straight or curved. Column short; rostellum square with a very small mid-lobe; viscidia separate and held in shallow notches in rostellum side lobes; staminodes minute; anther erect, 2-celled; stigma 2-lobed, lobes sessile, slightly convex, diverging from base.

Dwarf terrestrial, lithophytic or epiphytic herbs with creeping rhizomes or fusiform tuberous roots. Stems leafy,

Leafless, saprophytic herb lacking chlorophyll; rhizome tuberous. Scape erect with a few basal sheaths; inflorescence terminal. Tepals free, subequal; lip spurred, concave with verrucose crests. Column and anther short; pollinia 2, sectile, each with a slender, curved caudicle and a single broad viscidium. Stigma broad, prominent; rostellum absent. Capsule ovoid, pendulous, developing quickly.

Epiphytic, monopodial herbs with long, slender, leafy stems. Leaves distichous, linear or ligulate, articulated at base to persistent leaf sheaths, these sheaths bearing a hair-like ligule at apex opposite leaf. Inflorescences axillary, short, few-flowered. Flowers small, white. Sepals and petals free, subsimilar. Lip entire, ovate, ecallose, spurred. Column short, fleshy. Pollinia 2, ovoid; stipe 1, ligulate or Y-shaped; viscidium 1, large, rectangular, almost as long as stipe. Rostellum deflexed, triangular, bifid.