Cymbidium Sw.,
Nova Acta Regiae Soc. Sci. Upsal. 6 (1799) 70
Sympodial epiphytic or terrestrial plants with pseudobulbs, almost without or with short rhizomes, leafless terrestrial plants without pseudobulbs and with underground rhizomes. Pseudobulbs often hidden by the leaf-sheaths, consisting of one or more internodes, few- to several-leaved. Leaves sheathing at the base, distichous, glabrous, deciduous, duplicate, leathery. Inflorescence arising laterally from the base of the pseudobulb, a few- to many-flowered raceme. Flowers medium-sized to large, resupinate, often showy. Sepals free. Petals free, more or less similar to rather different from the dorsal sepal. Lip without spur, not mobile. Column-foot present. Pollinia 2, cleft, solid, caudicles absent, stipe present, viscidium present (forming a single structure with the stipe).
Distribution
India, tropical East Asia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia; about 45 species.
Distribution in the Philippines
Luzon (Benguet, Mt. Province, Nueva Vizcaya, Bataan, Rizal, Laguna, Quezon, Albay), Polillo, Palawan, Negros, Bohol, Leyte, Samar, Dinagat, Mindanao (Zamboanga, Bukidnon, Surigao, Agusan, Davao, Cotabato), Sulu, Tawi-Tawi; 6 species.
Habitat
Epiphytic in lowland and montane forest, or terrestrial in montane forest.
Notes
Horticulturally, Cymbidium is one of the most important orchid genera, with numerous hybrids being cultivated for the cut flower industry. As most of these hybrids require low temperatures for successful flowering they are not grown in the lowlands of Southeast Asia. Some of the showy species, mainly from continental Asia, are now very rare in the wild.