ORCHIDACEAE
Tropidia Lindl. in Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 19: t. 1618 (1833).
Chloidia Lindl.; Govindooia Wight; Muluorchis J.J.Wood; Schoenomorphus Thorel ex Gagnep.
By: Bhakta B. Raskoti
Taxon Description
Terrestrial herbs. Rhizome stout; roots fibrous. Stem branched or unbranched, noded, nodes with sheaths. Leaves ovate to narrowly lanceolate, plicate, base contracted into amplexicaul sheaths. Inflorescence raceme or panicle, terminal or axilary, few to many flowered. Flowers resupinate or not. Dorsal sepal free; lateral sepals free or connate and embracing base of lip. Petals free, often similar to sepals. Lip cymbiform, entire, spurless or spurred, base embracing column, apex acuminate and reflexed. Column short; rostellum prominent, viscidium peltate; pollinia 2, granular-farinaceous, sectile, caudicle slender. Fruit oblong or suboblong.
Taxon Statistics
Worldwide 34 species, in Asia, Australasia and North America. One species in Nepal.
1. Tropidia curculigoides Lindl., Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 497 (1840).
Schoenomorphus capitatus Thorel ex Gagnep.; Tropidia assamica Blume; T. formosana Rolfe; T. graminea Blume; T. hongkongensis Rolfe; T. squamata Blume.
Plants 43–45 cm tall. Rhizome rigid; roots wiry. Stem unbranched, enclosed in leaf sheaths, internodes 2–4 cm. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, (5–6–)9–18 × (0.5–)1–2.5 cm, distichous, base contracted into amplexicaul sheath, apex acuminate-caudate. Inflorescence corymb-like, terminal or axillary, 1–2 cm with up to 10-flowered. Floral bracts imbricate, lanceolate, 5–9 × 5 mm, apex acute. Flowers greenish white, 5–7 mm across. Pedicel and ovary 3–6 mm. Dorsal sepal oblong-lanceolate, 4–8 × 1.5–2 mm, apex acuminate. Lateral sepals similar to dorsal sepal, connate at base, apex recurved. Petals oblong-lanceolate, 5–8 × 1.5 mm, apex acuminate. Lip ovate-lanceolate, ca. 6–8 × 2 mm, base saccate, apex acuminate; disk with 2 lamellae. Column ca. 4 mm. Fruit suboblong, ca. 10–15 × 5 mm.
Distribution: Nepal, Assam-Burma, South Asia, E Asia, South East Asia, E Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau.
Altitudinal range: 200–1000 m.
Ecology: Along shaded areas in broad-leaved forests.
Flowering: June–August. Fruiting: August–November.