蛇舌兰属 she she lan shu

Authors: Xinqi Chen & Jeffrey J. Wood

Herbs, epiphytic, monopodial. Stems pendulous, terete or slightly flattened, sometimes branched, with many nodes. Leaves distichous, with sheathing bases; leaf blade narrowly ovate to falcate-lanceolate, jointed to amplexicaul sheath. Inflorescence lateral, racemose, laxly few flowered. Flowers not resupinate, appearing a few at a time, opening widely, slightly fleshy. Sepals and petals similar, free, spreading, sepals carinate abaxially. Petals narrower than sepals; lip superior, spurless, fleshy, broadly attached to column base, immovable; hypochile boat-shaped, with raised lateral lobes; epichile narrowed, long drawn-out, apex ± forked into 2 tails, or truncate. Column lacking a foot, short, stout; stigma large; pollinia 4, unequal, globose; stipe narrowed from a broad base; viscidium ovate.

Two species: China, India (including Andaman Islands), Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; one species in China.

Lower Taxon

• Diploprora championii (Lindley ex Bentham) J. D. Hooker