175. Papilionanthe Schlechter, Orchis. 9: 78. 1915.
凤蝶兰属 feng die lan shu
Authors: Xinqi Chen & Jeffrey J. Wood
Herbs, epiphytic, scrambling, monopodial. Stems erect to pendulous, climbing or pendulous, elongate, terete, branching or unbranched, many noded, laxly many leaved. Leaves terete, fleshy, channeled adaxially, jointed and sheathing at base; sheaths thickly leathery, tightly enclosing stem, persistent. Inflorescence axillary, 1- to several flowered. Flowers flat, large. Sepals and petals subsimilar, free, spreading. Petals usually larger; lip continuous with column foot, immovable, spurred, 3-lobed; lateral lobes ± erect, either parallel to or embracing column; mid-lobe often dilated and 2- or 3-lobed at apex; spur funnel-shaped or conic to long horn-shaped. Column subterete, short, fleshy, foot short; rostellum elongate, slender; pollinia waxy, 2, shortly cleft, attached by a broadly triangular or subquadrate stipe to a large viscidium.
About 12 species: China, India, SE Asia and the Malay Archipelago; four species (one endemic) in China.