Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of orchidaceous plants of the tribe Epidendreæ, type of the subtribe Malaxeæ.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • proper noun A large genus of largely terrestrial orchids with one or a few plicate leaves and slender spikes or tiny mostly green flowers; it is cosmopolitan.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun large genus of largely terrestrial orchids with one or a few plicate leaves and slender spikes or tiny mostly green flowers; cosmopolitan

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Twenty-meter-high mixed montane forests of Podocarpus and Engelhardia are found from about 1,200 to 2,100 m, with lianas, epiphytes, and orchids such as Corybas, Corymborkis, and Malaxis very much in evidence.

    Lesser Sundas deciduous forests 2008

  • The rarer orchids of the district are the bog-orchis (_Malaxis paludosa_), the narrow-leaved helleborine (_Cephalanthera ensifolia_), and the butterfly orchis

    Hertfordshire Herbert Winckworth Tompkins 1901

  • The clinandrum is largely developed in Malaxis, and is of considerable importance in retaining the pollinia, which as soon as the flower opens are quite loose.

    More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 Charles Darwin 1845

  • But here comes my only point of novelty: in all orchids as yet looked at (even one with so simple a labellum as Gymnadenia and Malaxis) the vessels on the two sides of the labellum are derived from the bundle which goes to the lower sepal, as in the diagram.

    More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 2 Charles Darwin 1845

  • Malaxis puts the labellum on top by continuing the rotation to a full 360 degrees.

    SEEDMAGAZINE.COM 2009

  • Malaxis paludosa, secondarily shifted their labellum to an uppermost position.

    SEEDMAGAZINE.COM 2009

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