Mantissa 2: 170 (1771); Holttum, Gard. Bull. Singapore 13: 21 (1950); Lim, Notes R. Bot. Gard. Edinb. 31: 243-285 (1972); R.M. Sm., ibid. 45: 1-19 (1988), reg. rev.
Small herbs with short, creeping rhizome, roots tuberous. Inflorescence terminal on the leafy shoot, lax or congested; bracts green or variously coloured, each subtending a few- to many-flowered cincinnus, lower ones often bulbiliferous; bracteole open to the base; flowers white, yellow, pink, orange, or purple; calyx turbinate to campanulate, 3-lobed to 3-dentate; corolla tube slender, long; labellum 2-lobed to entire, connate to the filament above the staminodes; lateral staminodes petaloid, free from labellum, elliptic, inserted at about the same level as the petals; anther with or without lateral appendages, apical crest absent. Capsule usually globose, smooth, verrucose or ribbed, dehiscent; seed with lacerate aril. 2n 16, 22, 24, 28, 32, 34, 48, 64, 80, 96; 32 and 48 the most frequent numbers. (From Kubitzki, et al., p. 487)
Found in the eastern tropical Himalaya to S China and throughout India and Indochina to Malaysia; most species in the Indochinese monsoon region.
Comprises about 100 species. Globba now includes those species formerly assigned to the genus Mantisia.
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