Peristylus maingayi, commonly known as the white ogre orchid, is a species of orchid that is native to southern Indochina, New Guinea and north Queensland. It has two or three broad leaves near its base and up to fifteen small white flowers that are tube-shaped near the base and have a three-lobed labellum.
Peristylus banfieldii is a tuberous, perennial herb with between two and three leaves NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. Between eight and fifteen tube-shaped, white flowers NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long and NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 wide are borne on a flowering stem NaNsigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 tall. The dorsal sepal is NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, about 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide and forms a partial hood over the column. The lateral sepals are a similar length to the dorsal sepal but slightly narrower and spread apart from each other. The petals are more or less triangular, about 5sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and 3sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. The labellum is NaNsigfig=2NaNsigfig=2 long, about 4sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide with its tip divided into three lobes about 2sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 long and 1sigfig=1NaNsigfig=1 wide. Flowering occurs from March to May.[1] [2]
The white ogre orchid was first formally described in 1897 by George King and Robert Pantling who gave it the name Habenaria maingayi and published the description in Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.[3] In 2001 Jeffrey James Wood and Paul Abel Ormerod changed the name to Peristylus maingayi. The specific epithet (maingayi) honours the collector of the type specimen, Alexander Carroll Maingay.
Peristylus maingayi grows in swampy grassland, and grassy forest and woodland. It is found in Malesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, New Guinea and northern Australia where it occurs on the Cape York Peninsula and as far south as Proserpine.