Anoectochilus geniculatus

Description

Anoectochilus, commonly known as marbled jewel orchids or filigree orchids,is a genus of about fifty species in the orchid family Orchidaceae. They are terrestrial herbs with a creeping rhizome, an upright flowering stem and dark coloured leaves with contrasting veins. The flowers are relatively large and have a large labellum, markedly different from the sepals and petals. Orchids in the genus Anoectochilus are terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, sympodial herbs with a creeping, above-ground rhizome with wiry roots that look woolly. The leaves are arranged in a rosette and are relatively broad and thin. They are dark green or brownish purple and have a contrasting network of silvery or reddish veins. The flowers are relatively large, hairy, velvety, resupinate and arranged in a short spike. The dorsal sepal and petals overlap to form a hood over the column with the lateral sepals spreading apart from each other. The labellum is relatively large with two sections - an upper "epichile" and lower "hypochile" separated by a narrow section. The hypochile has a cylinder-shaped spur containing two large glands and is joined to the epichile with a "claw" that has spreading teeth or a long fringe. The fruit is a hairy capsule containing a large number of winged seeds. Found in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, and Sumatra in upper tropical rainforests at elevations of 600 to 1100 meters as a miniature to small sized, warm to cool growing, terrestrial orchid with a shorter stem carrying 4, obliquely and broadly ovate to elliptic, acuminate to obtuse, mucronate, dark green-brown with gold to copper-reddish, reticulated veins gradually narrowing below into the sheath leaves that blooms in the later fall and early winter on a shortly pilose, 5.6" (14 cm) long, 1 to 5 flowered inflorescence with 2 to 3 sterile ovate, 3 veined, pubescent dorsally bracts and floral bracts that are a little shorter than the ovaries. This species is vegetatively the same as Anoectochilus reinwardtii but this one has the lip bent at it's base and often the same area is orange-red.