in Bijdragen tot de Flora van Nederlandsch Indie; 1825, 304, t.56
Introduction: Some seventy species are known from the Himalayas through Malaya, Indonesia to New Caledonia. The genus is represented in New Guinea with the largest number of described species.
Author and derivation of genus name: Named by Blume in 1825 from the Greek keras, kerato (horn) and stylis (style) after the fleshy horn-like appearance of the column.
Type species: Lectotype: C. subulata Bl. (van Royen, 1979)
Characteristics of genus: Small, epiphytic herbs with fibrous roots and simple or branched tufted stems.
Number of sections and/or subsections in genus: Schlechter divided the genus into two sections namely Eu-Ceratostylis (the rhizome always shortened; the flowers at the top of the pseudobulb or stem, from the axil of a single leaf) and Pleuranthemum (the rhizome more or less elongated; the flowers from the jointless pseudobulbs or stems, clearly arising below a single leaf).
Number of species in New Guinea: More than 50 species in New Guinea
Species shown here: Ceratostylis acutifolia
drawn by Neville H.S. Howcroft
Photo: Ceratostylis species
Conservation status: not threatened
Ceratostylis Blume