Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae, a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant.
Stanhopea is a genus of the orchid family (Orchidaceae) from Central and South America. The abbreviation used in horticultural trade is Stan. The genus is named for the 4th Earl of Stanhope (1781-1855), president of the Medico-Botanical Society of London (1829-1837). It comprises 55 species and 5 natural hybrids. These epiphytic, but occasionally terrestrial orchids can be found in damp forests from Mexico to Trinidad to NW Argentina. Their ovate pseudobulbs carry from the top one long, plicate, elliptic leaf.
Cymbidium, commonly known as boat orchids, is a genus of evergreen flowering plants in the orchid family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus are epiphytic, lithophytic, terrestrial or rarely leafless saprophytic herbs usually with pseudobulbs. There are usually between three and twelve leaves arranged in two ranks on each pseudobulb or shoot and lasting for several years. From one to a large number of flowers are arranged on an unbranched flowering stem arising from the base of the pseudobulb. The sepals and petals are all free from and similar to each other. The labellum is significantly different from the other petals and the sepals and has three lobes. There are about fifty-five species and sixteen further natural hybrids occurring in the wild from tropical and subtropical Asia to Australia. Cymbidiums are well known in horticulture and many cultivars have been developed.
Laelia is a small genus of 25 species in the orchid family (Orchidaceae). Laelia species are found in areas of subtropical or temperate climate in Central and South America, but mostly in Mexico. Laelia is abbreviated L. in the horticultural trade.
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.
Epidendrum, abbreviated Epi in the horticultural trade, is a large neotropical genus of the orchid family. With more than 1,500 species, some authors describe it as a mega-genus. The genus name refers to its epiphytic growth habit.
Calanthe, commonly known as Christmas orchids, is a genus of about 220 species of orchids in the family Orchidaceae. They are evergreen or deciduous terrestrial plants with thick roots, small oval pseudobulbs, large corrugated leaves and upright, sometimes arching flowering stems. The sepals and petals are narrow and a similar size to each other and the labellum usually has spreading lobes.
Phaius, commonly known as swamp orchids or in Chinese as 鶴頂蘭屬/鹤顶兰属 , is a genus of forty-five species of flowering plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. They are evergreen, terrestrial herbs which form clumps with crowded, sometimes stem-like pseudobulbs, large, pleated leaves and relatively large, often colourful flowers. Species in this genus are found in the tropical parts of Africa, Asia, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, and various islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. One species is also naturalized in Hawaii, Florida, and the Caribbean.
Schomburgkia is a genus of plants belonging to the family Orchidaceae. This genus is named for Richard Schomburgk, a German botanist who explored British Guiana during the 19th century. Species in this genus are either epiphytic or lithophytic in their growth habit. According to the Royal Horticultural Society Schom. is the official abbreviation for this genus.
Coilostylis is a genus of orchids. It was split off from the "supergenus" Epidendrum in 2004 although the Kew currently does not recognize this genus. This genus features pseudobulbs, large bracts around the flowers, and flowers that are typically resupinate, with the trilobate lip adnate to the column and having a long thin midlobe. It is not unusual for this genus to produce keikes.
Laeliinae is a Neotropical subtribe including 40 orchid genera, such as Brassavola, Laelia and Cattleya. The genus Epidendrum is the largest within this subtribe, containing about 1500 species. This is followed by the genus Encyclia, with over 120 species.
Myrmecophila is a genus of plants belonging to the family Orchidaceae. It is native to southern Mexico, Central America, the West Indies and Venezuela.
Scaphyglottis is a genus of orchids native to Mexico, Central America, northern South America and parts of the Caribbean. The current concept of this genus is the result of combining several genera which have been described at various times. The concept is characterized by the growth habit: not only are new pseudobulbs added at the base of the old ones, but new pseudobulbs also grow at the apices of the old ones. Many species are quite similar and difficult to distinguish, but some are clearly distinct. A few have showy colors. The genus comprises nearly 70 species.
Pholidota, commonly known as rattlesnake orchids, is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Plants in this genus are clump-forming epiphytes or lithophytes with pseudobulbs, each with a single large leaf and a large number of small, whitish flowers arranged in two ranks along a thin, wiry flowering stem that emerges from the top of the pseudobulb. There are about thirty five species native to areas from tropical and subtropical Asia to the southwestern Pacific.
Eulophia speciosa is a species of terrestrial orchid found from Ethiopia to South Africa and in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The plants usually grow in grasslands in sandy soils or in clay.
Epidendrum ibaguense is a species of epiphytic orchid of the genus Epidendrum which occurs in Trinidad, French Guiana, Venezuela, Colombia and Northern Brazil.
Epidendrum rigidum is an epiphytic reed-stemmed Epidendrum orchid common throughout the Neotroical lowlands, below 600 m (2,000 ft).
Geodorum, commonly known as shepherds' crooks or 地宝兰属 , is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. They are deciduous, terrestrial herbs with underground pseudobulbs, broad, pleated leaves and small to medium-sized, tube-shaped or bell-shaped flowers on a flowering stem with a drooping end. Species in this genus are found in southern Japan, tropical Asia, Australia and islands of the southwest Pacific Ocean.
Myrmecophila brysiana is an orchid in the genus Myrmecophila. A common name for the species is Brys's schomburgkia. It was first described by Charles Antoine Lemaire in 1851.
George Clayton Kennedy (1919–1980) was a professor of geochemistry at UCLA and a botanist with an interest in orchids.
