Peristylus

Peristylus, sometimes commonly known as ogre orchids or bog orchids is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It consists of over 100 known species found across much of eastern and southern Asia as well as in Australia and on many islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Orchids in the genus Peristylis are terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, sympodial herbs with paired fleshy tubers and thread-like, unbranched roots. The stems are upright and unbranched. The leaves are arranged in a rosette at the base of the plants or near the centre of the stem. The flowers are resupinate, usually small, often crowded, white, green or yellowish and usually only last a few days. The dorsal sepal and petals overlap to form a hood over the column. The labellum has a spur and usually three lobes which may be short or long and threadlike. The distinguishing feature of the genus is the presence of two club-shaped projections on the stigma. In many respects, plants in this genus are similar to those in Habenaria, only differing in the structure of the column. The genus Peristylus was first formally described in 1825 by Carl Ludwig Blume and the description was published in Bijdragen tot de flora van Nederlandsch Indië . The genus Peristylus is derived from the Greek words peri meaning 'around', and stylos 'column', referring to the arms on each side of the column. Orchids in the genus Peristylus are found in Japan, China, Mongolia, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, Polynesia and Australia. As of March 2018, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families accepted the following species: