Trichoglottis

Vandeae subtribe Aeridinae

Monopodial epiphytes. Stems viny, erect or pendent, rooting at the nodes. Leaves alternate, distichous, leathery, often twisted to lie in one plane. Inflorescences subsessile axillary racemes, producing superposed inflorescences over time. Flowers two-ranked. Sepals and petals free, spreading. Lip three-lobed, spurred, with a backwall callus, the callus often tongue-shaped. Column short, with a short foot, the wings apical, blunt, usually pubescent; pollinia 4, in two tightly appressed pairs on a common linear stipe and viscidium.

From the Greek tricho, meaning hair, and kentron, meaning spur, referring to the narrow spurs found in some species.

A genus of about 60 species found from India to New Guinea and the Philippines. Species with long-pedunculate racemes or panicles are treated as the segregate genus Staurochilus.

1 Sepals and petals unmarked, dark purple. T. brachiata 1' Sepals and petals transversely barred or spotted. 2 2(1') Miniature plants, stems to 2.3 in. (6 cm) long; lip green. T. pusilla 2' Large plants, stems more than 7.8 in. (20 cm) long; lip never green. 3 3(2') Sepals and petals base-color white. T. rosea 3' Sepals and petals base-color yellow. 4 4(3') Midlobe of lip oblong-lanceolate. 5 4' Midlobe of lip ovate-elliptic. 6 5(4) Lateral lobes of the lip linear, elongate, erect- recurved. T. retusa 5' Lateral lobes of the lip suborbicular, short. T. seidenfadenii 6(4') Lip apex long-acuminate and hook-like. T. wenzelii 6' Lip apex obtuse or abrutply short-acuminate. 7 7(6') Sepals acute-acuminate. T. tricostata 7' Sepals bluntly obtuse. 8 8(7') Sepals and petals subequal; lip five lobulate. T. cirrhifera 8' Petals less than half as wide as the sepals; lip three- lobed and lobulate. T. javanica

Jenny, R. and H. Fessel 1999. Trichoglottis philippinensis var. brachiata (Ames) L. O. Wms. 1938. Die Orchidee 50(5): Orchideenkartei Seite 907-908; Seidenfaden, G. 1986. The reappearance of an interesting Trichoglottis (Orchidaceae). Kew Bull. 41(3):693-695; Senghas, K. 1999. Trichoglottis pusilla, ein Orchideenkleinrod aus Java. J. Orchideenfr. 6(4):246-251; Williams, L. O. 1938. The genus Trichoglottis in the Philippine Islands. Philip. J. Sci. 65(4):385-397.