Orthochilus leontoglossus

Orthochilus leontoglossus is a stout, terrestrial herb growing from a rhizome-like tuber and thick, fleshy roots. A few broadly lanceolate leaves are produced that taper to acute tips, showing conspicuous longitudinal veining, running parallel to the leaf tips. The leaves may be taller than the inflorescence, as is the case for the plant in picture.

O. leontoglossus has a drooping, dense spike of yellow flowers. The petals and sepals, broadly obovate in shape with attenuating tips, have entire margins. Only the lip is three-lobed, the lateral two small and acutely angular, the central lobe large, rounded with a scalloped margin and thin fleshy protuberances on the central parts of the upper surface. The column deviates from a cylindrical shape, bulging near the top where an anther cap is present. There are two, branched pollinia.

Blooming usually occurs from midspring to midsummer. It grows in dry or marshy grassland. This specimen was flowering in June near Nigel (iSpot; Lowrey and Wright, 1987).