| + | Erect herbs with fleshy or tuberous roots: lvs. mostly at the base or on the lower part of the st.: raceme terminal, twisted; fls. spurless, small or medium-sized: sepals free or more or less united at the top, or united with the petals into a helmet; labellum sessile or clawed, concave, embracing the column and spreading into a crisped, sometimes lobed or toothed blade; pollinia 2, powdery.—Some 200 species, distributed in all parts of the world except the cold regions, but particularly abundant in the tropics of S. Amer. |