Rhynchostylis retusa (also called foxtail orchid) is an orchid, belonging to the Vanda alliance. The inflorescence is a pendant raceme, consisting of more than 100 pink-spotted white flowers. The plant has a short, stout, creeping stem carrying up to 12, curved, fleshy, deeply channeled, keeled, retuse apically leaves and blooms on an axillary pendant to 60 cm (24 in) long, racemose, densely flowered, cylindrical inflorescence that occurs in the winter and early spring. The plant is an epiphyte growing on tree trunks in open forests or at forest margins at elevations of 300–1,500 m (980–4,920 ft).
Various preparations of the plant were used against asthma and tuberculosis and for nervous twitchings, cramp, epileptic spasms, vertigo, palpitations, kidney stone and menstrual disorder. The plant has also been used to treat wounds, cuts and bruises. The plant has been used as an emollient and the root is used to treat rheumatism.
