It consists of over 100 known species found across much of eastern and southern Asia as well as in Australia and on many islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.Orchids in the genus Peristylis are terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, sympodial herbs with paired fleshy tubers and thread-like, unbranched roots.

The flowers are resupinate, usually small, often crowded, white, green or yellowish and usually only last a few days.

[2][5] The genus Peristylus was first formally described in 1825 by Carl Ludwig Blume and the description was published in Bijdragen tot de flora van Nederlandsch Indië .

[1][6] The name Peristylus is derived from the Greek words peri meaning 'around', and stylos 'column', referring to the arms on each side of the column.

[1][5][7][8][9][10] As of March 2018[update], the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families accepted the following species:[11]