Greek aer – air; anthos – flower; an allusion to the epiphytic habit or the delicate flowers.
Epiphytic or epilithic herbs, monopodial. Stems short or absent, simple, lacking pseudobulbs. Leaves in 2 ranks, strap-shaped, fleshy or leathery, tip 2-lobed. Inflorescences axillary racemes or branched, wiry, pendent. Flowers resupinate, 1-many, fragrant, white, greenish-white or green. Sepals similar, narrow, dorsal free, laterals joined to column foot. Petals similar to dorsal sepal but smaller. Labellum entire, pointed, joined to column foot. Column short to moderately long, with a long foot and forward - or downward - pointing spur. Pollinia 2, on 2 stipes.
About 40 species from Madagascar and neighbouring islands, 2 species in Africa.
Smallish epiphytes with short stems; wiry inflorescences; spur at end of column foot.
Source: (2005). Orchidaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.