Schoenorchis Reinw. ex Blume,
Bijdr. (1825) 361
Small monopodial epiphytes. Stem very short or elongated. Leaves many, distichous, sheathing at the base, glabrous, dorso-ventrally flattened or terete, deciduous, duplicate, leathery to carnose. Inflorescence lateral, a raceme or a panicle. Flowers small to very small, resupinate, sometimes brightly coloured. Sepals free. Petals free, somewhat smaller than the sepals. Lip spurred, not mobile, about as long as the petals or longer, spur inside without callosities, sometimes with a longitudinal dividing wall inside near the apex. Column-foot absent. Pollinia 4, about equal-sized, arranged in 2 bodies, solid, caudicles absent, stipe present, viscidium present.
Distribution
Sri Lanka, tropical continental Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Pacific islands, east to Samoa; about 20 species.
Distribution in the Philippines
Luzon (Ilocos Norte, Mt. Province, Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya, Bataan, Pampanga, Rizal, Sorsogon), Palawan, Leyte, Mindanao (Bukidnon, Agusan, Davao, Cotabato); 1 species [Schoenorchis paniculata Blume].
Habitat
Epiphytes in lowland and montane forest.
Notes
A genus of miniature orchids, of which a few species are occasionally cultivated by amateurs. Rather similar to Smitinandia and Abdominea; in these two genera the mouth of the spur is partly closed by an erect callus, whereas no such callus occurs in Schoenorchis.