Nohawilliamsia M.W. Chase & Whitten, 2009

Chase, Mark W., 2009, A new name for the single species of Nohawilliamsia and corrections in Gomesa (Orchidaceae), Phytotaxa 1, pp. 57-59 : 57-58

Nohawilliamsia M.W. Chase & Whitten , gen. nov.

Type species: Nohawilliamsia pirarense (Rchb.f.) M. W. Chase & Whitten

Plantae terrestres vel lithophyticae, parvae, pseudobulbi lati oblongi, 1 vel 2 bracteis foliiferis subtenti, folio apicali 1 vel 2. Folia crassa. Inflorescentia lateralis, racemosa, plerumque non ramosa, floribus numerosis. Structura floris Oncidio similis, sed tabula infrastigmatica carenti atque columna brevi. Pollinia dua.

Small, perennial, caespitose herbs, terrestrial to lithophytic, with pseudobulbs clustered on a short rhizome. Pseudobulbs oblong to elliptical-oblong in outline, weakly ancipitous, weakly ridged longitudinally, usually with 1–2 terminal leaves, composed of a single internode, lower portions concealed by 3–4 sheathing bracts, the uppermost 1–2 with a lamina. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, coriaceous, glabrous, conduplicate, margins entire, eventually deciduous. Inflorescences produced laterally from the base of the pseudobulb, subtended by a sheathing bract, much longer than leaves, racemose (rarely sparsely branched), manyflowered, in some cases producing plantlets at nodes after flowering. Flowers showy, resupinate, pedicellate ovary twisted, glabrous. Sepals free, more or less equal in size to the petals, shortly elliptic, dorsally carinate and shortly acuminate. Petals free, same shape as sepals; lip broadly attached to column, trilobed with the apical lobe much larger than the lateral lobes and apically cleft, with a basal trilobed callus. Column shorter than dorsal sepal, swollen apically, with a pair of lateral wings on the sides of the stigma; stigma round; anther terminal operculate, incumbent, one-celled; pollinarium with two, hard, waxy pollinia with an obvious, abaxial suture, attached to the head of an elongate stipe by irregularly shaped viscin (caudicles); viscidium oval in outline. Capsules and seeds not seen. Seedlings not seen. (From: Chase et al. 2009).

There is at this time only a single species in this genus