Thecopus

Cymbidieae subtribe Thecostelinae

Caespitose epiphytes. Pseudobulbs ellipsoid, compressed. Leaves one. Inflorescences basal, stiffly pendent, the floral bracts minute. Flowers shallowly cupped. Sepals and petals free, spreading. Lip three-lobed, articulated to the column foot. Column bent back upon itself, with apical arm-like wings and an elongate foot bearing a hollow chamber; pollinia 4, in two closely appressed, unequal pairs, on a common stipe without a viscidium.

From the Greek thece, meaning box, and pous, meaning pedicel, referring to the hollow chamber on the column foot.

A genus of two species native to Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, and Borneo. Thecopus was formerly included in Thecostele but differs by having the column not bent back upon itself and by having four, rather than two pollinia.

Seidenfaden, G. 1983. Orchid genera in Thailand XI, Cymbidieae. Opera Bot. 72:1-123.