Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Plants single or clustering, flowering to 75 cm.

Stems: Stems short.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. 15–30, many-ranked, reflexed, twisted or contorted. Blades linear–triangular, leathery, channeled to involute, to 65 × 0.6–1.4 cm. Apex attenuate. Surfaces appressed–grayish–scaly; sheath conspicuously rust–colored toward base, ovate to elliptic, conspicuously inflated, forming small pseudobulb, 2–4 cm wide. Margins entire. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in inflorescences of 5–30 flowers, scape conspicuous, erect, 8–30 cm, 2–4 mm diam.; bracts densely imbricate, spreading, recurved and twisted like leaves; sheath of bracts narrowing gradually into blade; spikes erect, 2–pinnate, linear, compressed, 2–10 × 1 cm, apex acute; lateral branches 2–10 (rarely simple). Flowers bisexual (perfect). Sepals with adaxial pair connate, lanceolate, keeled, 1.5–2 cm, leathery, apex acute, surfaces glabrous. Corolla tubular; petals erect, violet, ligulate, to 3.5 cm. Stamens 6, in 2 series of 3; stamens exserted. Ovary superior; stigma exserted, conduplicate–spiral.

Fruit: Fruits to 4 cm. Seeds with basal; white; plumose appendage.

Ploidy:

Habitat: Epiphytic on a variety of hosts in open woods; cypress swamps; coastal forest.

Elevation Range: 0–30 m.