The taxonomy of the Orchidaceae has evolved slowly during the last 250 years, starting with Carl Linnaeus who in 1753 recognized eight genera. De Jussieu recognized the Orchidaceae as a separate family in his Genera Plantarum in 1789. Olof Swartz recognized 25 genera in 1800. Louis Claude Richard provided us in 1817 with the descriptive terminology of the orchids.. The next step was taken in 1830-1840 by John Lindley, who recognized four subfamilies. He is generally recognized as the father of orchid taxonomy. The next important step was taken by George Bentham with a new classification, recognizing subtribes for the first time. This classification was first presented in a paper that Bentham read to the Royal Society in 1881. Then it was published in 1883 in the final volume of Genera Plantarum. The next great contributors were Pfitzer (1887), Schlechter (1926), Mansfeld (1937), Dressler and Dodson (1960), Garay, Vermeulen (1966), again Dressler (1981). and Burns-Balogh and Funk (1986). Dressler's 1993 book had considerable influence on later work.
The Orchidoideae, or the orchidoid orchids, are a subfamily of the orchid family (Orchidaceae).
Lecanorchis is a genus of orchids belonging to the subfamily Vanilloideae.
Arethuseae is a mid-sized tribe of orchids in the subfamily Epidendroideae. This tribe was initially categorized by John Lindley in 1840. Its largest subtribes are Arethusinae and Coelogyninae.
Coeliopsidinae is an orchid subtribe in the tribe Cymbidieae. The three members of this subtribe have traditionally been lumped in with Stanhopeinae, but obvious morphological traits and new molecular analysis by Whitten et al. in 2000 confirmed the group reclassified by Szlachetko (1995).
The Vandeae is a large monophyletic tribe within the family of orchids.
Eulophia alta is a species of orchid, known as the wild coco. It is widespread across tropical and subtropical parts of Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico and the West Indies, as well as the southeastern United States.
Eulophia guineensis is a species of orchid. It is the type species of the genus Eulophia and is commonly known as the Guinea Eulophia or the broad-Leaved ground orchid. It is found in the Cape Verde Islands, much of tropical Africa and part of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a terrestrial orchid that can grow to a metre or so tall, and is found in lowland and upland woods and scrubland.
Hanna Bogna Margońska, born 1968 is a Polish botanist known for her work on orchids.
Charles Schweinfurth was an American botanist and plant collector who distinguished himself by his studies on orchids. He predominantly collected species from Peru which he described in his four volume reference work Orchids of Peru (1958). He was a researcher at the Botanical Museum of Harvard University, and director of the Ames Orchid Herbarium where, in 1958, he was succeeded by Leslie Andrew Garay.
Brownleea is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae native to Africa and Madagascar. Eight species are known.
- Brownleea coeruleaHarv. ex Lindl.
- Brownleea galpiniiBolus
- Brownleea graminicolaMcMurtry
- Brownleea macrocerasSond.
- Brownleea maculataP.J.Cribb
- Brownleea mulanjiensisH.P.Linder
- Brownleea parvifloraHarv. ex Lindl.
- Brownleea recurvataSond.
Otoglossum is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae, native to South America and Central America.
Galeottiella is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Traditionally it had been included in subtribe Spiranthinae, but following molecular phylogenetic and morphological studies it is now placed in a subtribe on its own, Galeottiellinae.
Plectrelminthus is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Only one species is currently accepted, Plectrelminthus caudatus, though two varieties are recognized :
Dendrobieae is a tribe in the subfamily Epidendroideae, in the family Orchidaceae.
Diseae is an orchid tribe in the subfamily Orchidoideae. It was recognized in Genera Orchidacearum volume 2, which was published in 2001. It consisted of 12 genera in five subtribes. In molecular phylogenetic studies that were published after 1999, it was shown that Diseae is paraphyletic over the tribe Orchideae. In a classification of orchids that was published in 2015, Diseae was not recognized, but was instead placed in synonymy under Orchideae.
Zygopetalinae is an orchid subtribe in the tribe Cymbidieae with 418 species.
Leslie Andrew Garay, born Garay László András, was an American botanist. He was the curator of the Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium at Harvard University, where he succeeded Charles Schweinfurth in 1958. In 1957 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Disinae is a subtribe of orchids that has been differently defined and placed in the two classification systems that are currently in use for orchids. Genera Orchidacearum, which is currently the definitive work on orchid taxonomy, delimits Disinae as consisting of two closely related genera, Disa and Schizodium, and it places Disinae in the mostly African tribe Diseae, along with four other subtribes: Brownleeinae, Huttonaeinae, Coryciinae, and Satyriinae. In the classification for orchids that was published by Chase et alii in 2015, Schizodium was placed in synonymy under Disa, while Pachites and Huttonaea were transferred to Disinae. In Genera Orchidacearum, Pachites and Satyrium form the subtribe Satyriinae, and Huttonaea is the sole genus in the subtribe Huttonaeinae. The transfer of Pachites and Huttonaea to Disinae by Chase et alii (2015) was done with considerable doubt, and was based upon uncertainty about the relationships of these two genera. In 2009, a molecular phylogenetic study found only weak statistical support for a sister relationship between Huttonaea and Disa.
Telipogon diabolicus is a species of orchid in the genus Telipogon. Only a single population of 30 plants are known to exist, on the border between the Putumayo and Nariño departments of southern Colombia. Accordingly, it is classed as "critically endangered" in the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List.
