Townsonia Cheeseman

Small evergreen terrestrial orchids forming scattered groups. Each plant has tiny round tubers attached to its neighbour by a fleshy root and each tuber produces 1 or 2 leaves. Leaves on sterile plants erect on long fleshy petiole; leaf on flowering plant attached to flower stem above ground level. Racemes short, fleshy, few-flowered. Flowers resupinate, small, pale-coloured, inconspicuous. Dorsal sepal free, larger than lateral sepals. Lateral sepals free. Petals smaller than sepals. Labellum attached by base to column base. Labellum lamina unlobed or obscurely lobed, fleshy, folded along the mid-line. Callus obscure, no basal glands. Anther contains 4 pollinia attached to a viscidium.

These orchids grow in dense, moist to wet forests with almost permanent high humidity.