Zeuxine Lindl.,
Collect. Bot. Append. (1826) n. 18 ('Zeuxina')
Sympodial terrestrial plants. Stem elongated, slightly succulent, basal part creeping, forming a rhizome, apical part erect, few-leaved, rarely stem very short, and then with narrow, grass-like leaves, otherwise leaves not narrow and grass-like. Leaves few, sheathing at the base, glabrous, persistent, convolute, green or light brownish, often withered at the time of flowering, herbaceous. Inflorescence terminal, a few- to many-flowered raceme. Flowers small, resupinate, usually brownish or green with a white lip. Sepals free. Petals free, about as long as the dorsal sepal, usually cohering at the apices. Lip without spur, not mobile, at the base with one or two papillae on each side. Column-foot absent. Pollinia 2, sectile, caudicles present, stipe present (always?), viscidium present. Stigma with two clearly separated lobes.
Distribution
Tropical Africa, tropical continental Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Pacific islands, east to Samoa and Tonga; about 50 species.
Distribution in the Philippines
Luzon (Benguet, Mt. Province, Bataan, Laguna, Sorsogon), Mindoro, Negros, Cebu, Palawan, Leyte, Mindanao (Zamboanga, Lanao, Misamis, Agusan, Davao); 9 species.
Habitat
Terrestrial in lowland and montane forest, one species [Zeuxine strateumatica (L.) Schltr.] in grassland.
Notes
Zeuxine is a poorly studied genus, related to Myrmechis, Cheirostylis, Rhomboda, Hetaeria, and Anoectochilus. All these genera agree in an obscure, but important detail, namely in that the stigmatic surface, i.e. the part of the flower that receives the pollen, is clearly divided into two separate lobes, situated on the sides of the column near its apex. In contrast to some other genera in this alliance, which may have attractive foliage, Zeuxine has little if any horticultural value, and is therefore rarely seen in cultivation, not even in scientific collections.