Epiphytic herbs with short or elongate, often slightly undulate pseudobulbs of uniform thickness, tapering at the apex. Leaves few to many, distichous, lanceo-late, acuminate, plicate, the blades deciduous, the unarmed, imbricating, persistent, grayish white papery bases tightly enveloping the stems. Inflorescences arching or pendent, unbranched racemes, produced in succession from the upper leaf axils while the plants are still in leaf, or from near the apex of the upper imbricating leaf bases after the blades have fallen. The species of the genus fall into two well marked subgeneric sections. In EUCYCNOCHES, which contains the generic type: both staminate and pistillate flowers large and conspicuous, usually produced on separate scapes, although mixed inflorescences containing both forms may rarely be seen. Sepals and petals in both sexes similar, fleshy or membranaceous, erect or reflexed, the lip in both fleshy, without marginal teeth. Structural differences in this section almost entirely confined to the column, that of the staminate flowers very slender, terete, elongate, and arcuate, bearing the anther at the apex, without a functional stigma or ovary; the pistillate column short, stout, fleshy, more or less winged, particularly at the apex, without an anther, but with a normal stigma and ovary. In HETERANTHAE: staminate and pistillate flowers strikingly dis-similar in size, color and structure, usually produced on separate scapes although mixed inflorescences are rarely seen. Pistillate flowers relatively large and fleshy, similar in structure to those of the subgenus EuCYCNOCHES, usually produced on short, arching, few-flowered racemes. Staminate flowers small, on elongate, often dense, pendent racemes. Sepals and petals membranaceous, spreading or reflexed, often undulate, the lip reduced to a small ligular, triangular or rounded, usually concave disk, margined by long or short-pointed, forked, rounded or clavate teeth. Column slender, terete, arcuate. In both subgeneric sections the anther of the staminate form is terminal, operculate, incumbent, 1-celled or imperfectly 2-celled; pollinia 2, waxy.
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