Aerides sect. Ornithochilus Wallich ex Lindley, Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl. 242. 1833.

Herbs, epiphytic, monopodial, small. Stems short, unbranched, rigid, enclosed in persistent leaf sheaths, base with many flat aerial roots. Leaves distichous, flat, fleshy, base jointed and shortly sheathed. Inflorescences axillary, paniculate, many flowered, equaling or exceeding leaves; floral bracts small, narrow. Flowers small to medium-sized. Sepals and petals free. Petals smaller and narrower than sepals; lip spurred from distal part of hypochile; epichile 3-lobed, margin ciliate or crenulate; disk with a pilose callus at spur entrance. Column small, fleshy, lacking a foot; rostellar projection elongate, fleshy, obtuse; anther cap truncate; stipe obovate-cuneiform; viscidium obtriangular; pollinia 4, as 2 pollen masses.

Three species: SE Asia and the Indian Himalayas; two species (one endemic) in China.

(Authors: Chen Xinqi (陈心启 Chen Sing-chi); Jeffrey J. Wood)