Plants herbs, terrestrial, cespitose, sympodial. Roots fleshy, velamentous. Stems short, stout rhizomes and pseudobulbs. Leaves deciduous, 3-5, basal and cauline, petiolate; blade articulate, pleated, thin. Inflorescences lateral, racemes or sparsely branched panicles, erect, scapose, 3-80-flowered; floral bracts distant, tubular. Flowers resupinate; sepals and petals subsimilar, distinct; lip attached to base of column, margins entire to 3-lobed; disc smooth, lamellate or with 5-7 denticulate crests; column elongate, arcuate, sometimes winged distally; anther terminal, incumbent; pollinia 8 in 2 sets of 4, yellow, compressed, hard, waxy or rarely mealy; stigma entire; ovary pedicellate. Fruits capsules, cylindric.