Spathoglottis Blume,
Bijdr. (1825) 400
Sympodial terrestrial plants with very short rhizomes. Pseudobulbs consisting of more than one internode, partly subterranean, 1- to 3-leaved. Leaves sheathing at the base, glabrous, plicate, deciduous, convolute, thin-textured. Inflorescence arising from the base of the plant, a few- to many-flowered raceme, with a few flowers open at the same time. Flowers medium-sized, resupinate, white, yellow or magenta. Sepals free. Petals free, as long as the sepals but broader. Lip without spur, not mobile, distinctly 3-lobed, with a pair of callosities at the base of the mid-lobe. Column-foot absent. Pollinia 8, solid, caudicles present, stipe absent, viscidium absent.
Distribution
Sri Lanka, tropical continental Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia, east to Samoa and Niue; about 30 species.
Distribution in the Philippines
Batanes, Luzon (Ilocos Norte, Kalinga-Apayao, Mt. Province, Ifugao, Benguet, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Zambales, Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, Aurora, Camarines, Albay, Sorsogon), Polillo, Catanduanes, Mindoro, Sibuyan, Palawan, Panay, Negros, Bohol, Leyte, Samar, Dinagat, Mindanao (Zamboanga, Lanao, Misamis, Bukidnon, Surigao, Agusan, Davao, Cotabato), Sulu; 6 species.
Habitat
Terrestrial in open vegetation, especially along forest margins. Mainly in the lowlands.
Notes
Spathoglottis is a well-known genus of showy terrestrial orchids, easily recognised by the lip having a pair of callosities at the base of the mid-lobe. Some species are quite common along roads through forested areas, and as such are among the few orchids that benefit from human disturbance.