ID of this plant ?

[atmccmn]

Adressing to all orchid gurus,

I have this leafless variety of orchid which was saved from a fallen branches. Most of the time it was ignored at a corner at my garden.......well, untill now. I have no clue as what it was or it's type locality except ofcourse was found in Penang. Have seen the same thing in Cameron too. As for comparision, the seed pod measures at abt 10mm.

Would appreciate much if any of the gurus could pour out any infos....
Here's a pic. of the plant.

[caseyhoo]

That is nice and healthy plant!!!

Special of the plant is, it dont have leaf!!!!

[atmccmn]

Casey,

There are several genus of orchids which doesn't have any leaves in their life. Actually the roots took over the function of it's leaves by making food as you can see there are chlorophyll present in the roots(green color). Orchids fall under this group is commonly called ghost orchids..........still... I dont know mine belong in which genus!

[shawnintland]

Hi Andi, That's either Chilochista parishii or C. viridiflava. The key would be a better closeup of the flower itself. Can't tell if you have two of the rare leaves or if those are seed pods?
I just found a similar looking orchid in Nepal last week called Kingidium taeniale, a.k.a. Phalaenopsis taenialis. This one was also just a mass of green roots sticking to the sides of tree but with pink/purple flowers with a great scent!
~Shawn

[paphioboy]

Very nice and interesting.. Yes, it definitely is a leafless orchid but not the famed ghost orchid (Polyradicion lindenii) which is only found in some parts of the US. Shawn, I'm not sure if the distribution of Chiloschista extends to Malaysia. As far as I know, most of them come from Thailand and northwards. I think Andy's plant here is a species of Taeniophyllum. Taeniophyllum is pretty widespread throughout Malaysia and have characteristic flattened roots.

[shawnintland]

Hi paphioboy, yep - you could well be correct...a better closeup of the flower will probably clarify the genus at least! :>)