Volume 12 > Part 2 > Year 2014 > Page 542 > Orchidaceae

67. Grammatophyllum Blume

Bijdr.: 377. 1825; Schltr., Orchis 9: 99, 115. 1915.

Accepted Name : This is currently accepted.

Synonyms & Citations :

Description : Medium-sized to very large, robust epiphytic, rarely lithophytic or terrestrial herbs. Roots stiff, acuminate, branching, of two types: erect catch-roots that trap detritus, and normal spreading roots. Stems clustered, pseudobulbous, either (1) very elongate, very fleshy and many-leaved, covered in leaf-sheaths or (2) rather short and thick, sometimes of a single node, ovoid, conical or shortly fusiform, not covered in leaf-sheaths, distally few-leaved. Leaves distichous, plicate, long and narrow, flexible, tough and coriaceous, acutely articulated to short sheathing base. Inflorescences lateral, simple, erect, horizontal or pendulous, a laxly many-flowered raceme, flowers mostly open simultaneously; floral bracts triangular, acute, often fleshy and concave, persistent. Flowers resupinate, medium-sized to large, often showy, long-lasting, yellow, variously marked with brown or maroon. Sepals and petals spreading, similar, oblong, sometimes concave, usually obtuse; lateral sepals sometimes falcate. Labellum much smaller, 3-lobed, fused at the base to the base of the column, usually hairy; disk ornamented by 2 or 3 ridges. Column 15–20 mm long, clavate, arcuate, foot absent, but often with a concave basal outgrowth; pollinia 2, deeply cleft, each joined by a caudicle to a separate outgrowth from the laterally extended, more or less crescent-shaped viscidium.

Approximately 10 species distributed in SE Asia, from Myanmar to Borneo, north to the Philippines and eastwards to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands; 1 species in Thailand.