Abstract:

  The occurrence of the monocotyledonous family Lowiaceae in the Chinese flora is

reported for the first time in this paper in which two new species, Orchidantha chinensis

and O. insularis L. T. Wu are proposed.  Up to now, Orchidantha N. E. Brown, the sole

genus in the family includes only six species with a range of distribution extending from

Borneo, through the Malay Peninsula, to Thailand and Laos.

      In the present review of the family, the eight known species are grouped into two

sections characterized as follows:

     Sect. 1. Orchidantha

           Labellum sessile segmentis calycis simile.

      1.  O. borneensis N. E. Brown; 2. O. chinensis T. L. Wu; 3. O. insularis T. L.

           Wu; 4. O. laotica Larsen.

           Typus sect. O. borneensis N. E. Brown.

     Sect. 2. Lowia (Scortech.) T. W. Wu, grad. nov.

           Lowia Scortech. Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital. 18: 308. 1886-pro genere.

           Labellum unguiculatum segmentis calycis valde dissimile.

      5.  0. maxillarioides (Ridl.) Hook. f.; 6. O. calcarea Henderson;  7.  O. siamensis

           Larsen; 8. O. longiflora (Scortech.) Ridley.

           Typus sect. O. longiflora (Scortech.) Ridley.

     Besides the Latin descriptions of the new species incorporated in the Chinese text,

a brief history of the family, general discussions on systematic relationship accompanied

by a comparative table of allied families, a distributional map, and a key to species are

included in this preliminary study.