Abstract
A sun-loving tropical genus with some 40 species, Luisia is distributed from India eastwards across Southeast Asia to the islands of the Pacific. Plants are epiphytic or saxicolous, monopodial, of moderate size, with short terete stems bearing long, slender, terete leaves. Inflorescence is very short, and carries –one to ten flowers (Fig. Lui 65.1). Flowers are fleshy, gaudily coloured, with narrow, sometimes wavy petals and a large coloured lip. They have been likened to the Kathakali dancers of Kerala. Nine species are employed in folk medicine (Teoh 2016). Several intergeneric hybrids have been made with various vandaceous species.
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Teoh, E.S. (2021). Luisia Gaud.. In: Orchid Species from Himalaya and Southeast Asia Vol. 2 (G - P). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80428-2_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80428-2_13
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