Agrostophyllum Blume,
Bijdr. (1825) 368
Sympodial epiphytic or rarely terrestrial plants with very short to somewhat elongated rhizomes. Stems elongated, with few to many internodes, sometimes swollen into slender, flattened pseudobulbs. Leaves few to many, distichous, sheathing at the base, glabrous, deciduous, duplicate, thin-textured but rather stiff; leaf-sheaths usually with black or brown margins. Inflorescence terminal [at least seemingly so] or rarely lateral, very short, 1- or few-flowered, usually produced in head-like clusters. Flowers small, resupinate or not, white or yellowish, sometimes with purple or yellow markings on the lip. Sepals free. Petals free, about as long as but much narrower than the dorsal sepal. Lip without spur, but sometimes sac-shaped at the base, not mobile, usually clearly divided into a cup-shaped basal part and a flat apical part. Column-foot indistinct or absent. Pollinia 8, solid, caudicles absent, stipe absent, viscidium present. Ovary usually with a few scattered scale-hairs.
Distribution
Seychelles, tropical Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Pacific islands, east to Samoa; about 60 species.
Distribution in the Philippines
Luzon (Cagayan, Isabela, Kalinga-Apayao, Ifugao, Benguet, Bataan, Nueva Vizcaya, Rizal, Laguna, Quezon, Camarines, Albay, Sorsogon), Biliran, Mindoro, Negros, Bohol, Leyte, Samar, Mindanao (Lanao, Misamis, Bukidnon, Agusan, Davao, Cotabato); 14 species.
Habitat
Usually epiphytic on tree trunks and thick branches in lowland and montane forest.
Notes
As a rule, Agrostophyllum is easily recognised by the head-like clusters of small whitish flowers at the apex of the stems. In this respect it resembles Glomera, but Glomera has a clearly spurred lip as well as only four pollinia. The black or brown margins of the leaf-sheaths are also highly characteristic for Agrostophyllum, at least in most species. The genus is almost unknown in cultivation, but quite common in the wild.