Epiblastus Schltr.,
in K.Schum. & Lauterb. Nachtr. Fl. Deutsch. Schutzgeb. Südsee (1905) 136
Sympodial epiphytic or terrestrial plants. Pseudobulbs present, consisting of one internode, one-leaved. Leaves without sheathing base, glabrous, dorso-ventrally flattened, articulate, duplicate, leathery. Inflorescence terminal, carrying a single flower, occurring in fascicles from the developing shoot. Flowers small, resupinate, (orange-)red, or pink. Sepals free, but usually more or less cohering in basal half. Petals free, about as long as the dorsal sepal, but somewhat narrower. Lip without spur, not mobile, longitudinally adnate to the column through a median callosity. Column-foot present. Pollinia 8, solid-waxy, caudicles present, stipe absent, viscidium absent.
Distribution
Sulawesi, Moluccas, Philippines, New Guinea, east to Samoa; about 15 species.
Distribution in the Philippines
Mindanao (Zamboanga, Bukidnon, Cotabato); 1 species [Epiblastus merrillii L.O.Williams].
Habitat
Epiphytic in mossy montane forest.
Notes
This unusual genus is easily recognised by the fascicle of reddish flowers arising from the leaf axil of a developing shoot. Epiblastus is almost unknown in cultivation.