Neuwiedia

Apostasioideae. Considered one of the “primitive” members of the orchid family because of its three functional and free stamens, Neuwiedia is sometimes placed into a separate family, the Apostasiaceae, along with the genus Apostasia.

Coarse terrestrials with stout, erect rhizomes. Leaves several, plicate, lanceolate, erect. Inflorescences terminal, erect, spicate racemes, the floral bracts prominent. Flowers tubular. Sepals and petals free. Lip subsimilar to the sepals and petals, not strongly differentiated. Column atypical of the family, with the style slender, terete, with a terminal stigma, free from the stamens, the stamens three, with the filiaments not fused to the style; pollen not arranged into pollinia. Pedicel sharply distinct from the ovary both in flower and in fruit.

A genus of eight species found from southeast Asia to the islands of the Pacific Ocean.

Howcroft, N. H. S. 1980. Contributions to the orchid flora of the Araucaria forests in New Guinea, Neuwiedia veratrifolia Bl. and Apostasia wallichii R. Br. ex Wall. Orchadian 6(10):234-237.

Larsen, K. 1968. Brief note on Neuwiedia singapurana in Thailand. Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc. 22(3-4):330-331.

Okada, H., S. Kubo and Y. Mori 1996. Pollination system of Neuwiedia veratrifolia Blume (Orchidaceae, Apostasioideae) in the Malesian wet tropics. Acta Phytotax. Geobot. 47(2):173-181.

Rao, V. S. 1973. A further contribution to the floral anatomy of the rare Apostasias: Genus Neuwiedia. J. Indian Bot. Soc. 52:65-71.