Pteroceras

Vandeae subtribe Aeridinae. Pteroceras was formerly included in an overly broadly defined Sarcochilus. Macropodanthus was formerly included in a more broadly defined Pteroceras. Four species from New Guinea, which comprise Sarcochilus section Monanthochi

Monopodial epiphytes with very short to elongate, leafy stems, infrequently branching. Leaves alternate, distichous, leathery to succulent-fleshy. Inflorescences few to many-flowered axillary racemes, never branched, sometimes several inflorescences superposed at one node on the stem, elongating over time to produce sequential flushes of flowers. Flowers ephemeral, often gregarious based on environmental stimulus. Sepals and petals subsimilar, free, spreading. Lip three-lobed, mobile at the apex of a long column foot, saccate. Column without wings; pollinia 2 and deeply cleft or rarely 4 in 2 tightly appressed pairs, attached to a slender, oblong stipe and a viscidium.

A genus of 19 species ranging from northeast India to the Philippines, Sulawesi, and the Lesser Sunda Islands with one disjunct species in South India.

Holttum, R. E. 1960. The genera Sarcochilus R. Br. and Pteroceras Hassk. (Orchidaceae), with notes on other genera which have been included in Sarcochilus. Kew Bull. 14:263-276.

Joseph, J. and E. Vajravelu 1974. Proteroceras holttumii (Orchidaceae), a new find belonging to a new genus from Vellirgiri Hills, South India. J. Indian Bot. Soc. 53:189-193.

Pedersen, H. A. 1992. Notes on the genus Pteroceras (Orchidaceae). Nordic J. Bot. 12:387-388.

Pedersen, H. A. 1993. The genus Pteroceras (Orchidaceae, a taxonomic revision. Opera Bot. 117:1-64.

Sathish Kumar, C. 1993. On the status of Proteroceras Joseph and Vajravelu. Rheedia 3(2):172-174.

Senghas, K. 1989. Die Gattung Pteroceras, mit einer neuen art, P. pustulatum, von den Philippinen. Die Orchidee 40(1):2-6.