Chiloschista, commonly known as starfish orchids and abbreviated Chsch., is a genus of usually leafless, epiphytic or lithophytic orchids found in India, Southeast Asia and Australia.

Description

Orchids in the genus Chiloschista are epiphytic or lithophytic, usually leafless monopodial herbs with flat, green, photosynthetic roots radiating from a short, central rhizome. The flowers are arranged on long, thin flowering stems, open sporadically in groups and only last for a few hours to one or two days. They are small and resupinate, with the sepals and petals more or less similar in size and shape to each other but different from the labellum which has three lobes. The side lobes of the labellum are erect and larger than the middle lobe which is slipper-shaped.

Taxonomy and naming

The genus Chiloschista was first described in 1832 by John Lindley in Edwards's Botanical Register. The name Chiloschista is derived from the Ancient Greek words meaning "lip" or "rim" and meaning "split" or "divided". Twenty species of Chiloschista are recognised by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families as at December 2018: