164. Stereochilus Lindley, J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 3: 38. 1858.
坚唇兰属 jian chun lan shu
Authors: Xinqi Chen & Jeffrey J. Wood
Herbs, epiphytic, monopodial. Stems suberect, short or rather long, noded. Leaves several to many, distichous, flat, sometimes ± conduplicate, leathery, jointed, sessile, often sheathing at base. Inflorescence 1-3, axillary, racemose, lax, often pendulous, many flowered; floral bracts very small, much shorter than pedicel and ovary. Flowers small, often opening widely; lateral sepals adnate to base of lip. Petals smaller than sepals; lip adnate to column base, immovable, saccately spurred at base, indistinctly 3-lobed; lateral lobes erect, small; mid-lobe larger; spur with longitudinal septum inside and often 1 or 2 calli on back wall. Column rather stout, without a foot; rostellum subulate-lanceolate, rather long; pollinia 4, in 2 pairs, equal, ellipsoid-oblong to ovoid, waxy, with short but distinct caudicles, attached by a long, slender, somewhat clavate stipe to a small, ovate viscidium.
Six described species: Bhutan, China, NE India, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam; two species in China, plus one undescribed species (see note below).
A third, as yet undescribed, apparently endemic species has been identified from S Yunnan, where it seems to be rather more common than either Stereochilus brevirachis or S. dalatensis (Perner, pers. comm.). It has the short inflorescence of S. brevirachis but has flowers with pink lip lateral lobes and a glabrous pedicel and ovary.
