Galeola J. Loureiro
in Flora Cochinchinea 2 (1790), 520.

Introduction: A genus of about 25 species saprophytic orchids distributed from East African islands through Asia, Korea, Indonesia and New Guinea to Australia and the Pacific. The genus belongs to the subtribe Vanillinae. The species of the genus usually grow on rotting wood and depend on fungal symbiosis in their roots for their survival. At one time or another some eighty species have been included in this genus, but many have been returned to older genera or included in new ones.

Derivation of genus name: Latin, diminutive of galea (helmet), in reference to the form of the lip.

Type species: Galeola nudifolia Lour.

Characteristics of the genus: Long, climbing, scrambling plants, with tiny leaves or no leaves, that are known to climb at least as high as fifteen metres up trees, quite similar to Vanilla.

Number of species in New Guinea: Five species have been recognised for New Guinea, some of them have been re-assigend by Garay to the new genus Pseudovanilla.

Species line drawing: Galeola cf. javanica
drawn by N.H.S. Howcroft from live specimen and preserved material ex Manki, Bulolo, Morobe Province

Habitat: tropical lowland forests

Conservation status: not known