Eltroplectris calcarata

Plants to 70 cm. Roots numerous, 18 cm × 2-6 mm. Stems subterranean, obscured by roots. Leaves glabrous; petiole erect, reddish, slender, 9-20 cm, usually longer than blade; blade green, lanceolate to broadly elliptic, 9-15 × 3.5-7 cm, base cuneate, margins entire to crenulate, apex acute to acuminate. Inflorescences: peduncle reddish, satinlike, glabrous proximally, pubescent distally, with a few distant, sheathing bracts, 28-65 cm; racemes 3-11-flowered. Flowers spindly; sepals green, narrowly lanceolate, 21-30 × 6-7 mm, apex acuminate; dorsal sepal projecting over column; lateral sepals spreading; petals green, linear, 19-21 × 3 mm, apex acuminate; lip recurved, attached to column foot, white, ovate, lamina notched distal to middle, margins fringed, 2 cm, apex acuminate; spur adnate to ovary for 8-9 mm, cylindric, 15-17 mm, free portion curved, 7-9 mm; column semiterete, 8-10 mm, apex pointed; pedicellate ovary 1.5-2.3 cm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Capsules 18-25 mm; spur persistent.

Flowering Jan--Mar. In humus of moist hardwood hammocks; 0--30 m; Fla.; West Indies; n South America.