Genus Spathoglottis
Spathoglottis Blume, Bijdr. (1825) 400
Synonyms:
- Genus Paxtonia Lindl., Edwards's Bot. Reg. (1838) Misc. 61
Sympodial terrestrial plants with very short rhizomes. Pseudobulbs consisting of more than one internode, often partly subterranean, 1- to 11-leaved. Leaves sheathing at the base, glabrous, plicate, articulate, convolute, thin-textured. Inflorescence arising laterally from the pseudobulb, a few- to many-flowered raceme, with a few to several flowers open at the same time. Flowers medium-sized, resupinate, white, yellow, or usually various shades of purple to mauve or pink. Sepals free. Petals free, as long as the sepals but usually distinctly broader. Lip without spur, not mobile, distinctly 3-lobed, with a more or less distinctly bilobed callus at the base of the mid-lobe. Column slender, curved, column-foot absent. Pollinia 8, solid, in two pairs of 4, those within a pair somewhat unequal; caudicles present, partly sticky, stipe absent, viscidium absent.
Sri Lanka, tropical continental Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia, east to Samoa and Niue. About 30 species; in New Guinea about 13 species.
Terrestrial in open vegetation, especially along forest margins, stream banks and road sides. Mainly in the lowlands, but also in subalpine grassland.
- Howcroft, N.H.S. 1986. The taxonomy of Spathoglottis Blume. Orchadian 8: 139-148.
- Howcroft, N.H.S. 1992. A taxonomic revision of the genus Spathoglottis (Orchidaceae) in Papuasia. Unpublished Master thesis, University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea.
- Howcroft, N.H.S. 1996. Reproductive biology of Spathoglottis (Orchidaceae). Sci. New Guinea 21: 159-175.
- Pridgeon, A. M., P.J. Cribb, M.W. Chase & F.N. Rasmussen (Eds.). 2005. Genera Orchidacearum, Volume 4: Epidendroideae (Part one). P. 156. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Subfamily Epidendroideae
- Tribe Collabieae
- Genus Spathoglottis
A well-known genus of frequently seen terrestrial orchids, easily recognised by the unspurred lip having a pair of callosities at the base of the midlobe. Some species are quite common along roads through forested areas, and as such are among the few orchids that benefit from human disturbance. The taxonomy of the genus in New Guinea is extremely confused. Although we have benefitted considerably from Howcroft's unpublished MSc thesis on the genus we must admit that the delimitation of the taxa in the alliance of Spathoglottis plicata and Spathoglottis papuana still poses many problems. In his manucript Howcroft divided some species, especially S. plicata, into a number of subspecies, which we have not taken up here.
Genus Spathoglottis in New Guinea is present with 14 species:
Spathoglottis aurea
Spathoglottis bulbosa
Spathoglottis chrysodorus
Spathoglottis doctersii
Spathoglottis elobulata
Spathoglottis erectiflora
Spathoglottis kenejiae
Spathoglottis latifolia
Spathoglottis papuana
Spathoglottis parviflora
Spathoglottis paulinae
Spathoglottis plicata
Spathoglottis portusfinschii
Spathoglottis pulchra
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Genus Spathoglottis
Spathoglottis papuana, plant habit, photo E.F. de Vogel, based on Leiden cult. 20031807
Genus Spathoglottis
Spathoglottis papuana, pseudobulb, photo E.F. de Vogel, based on Leiden cult. 20031807
Genus Spathoglottis
Spathoglottis papuana, inflorescence, photo E.F. de Vogel, based on Leiden cult. 20031807
Genus Spathoglottis
Spathoglottis parviflora, flower, front view, photo E.F. de Vogel, based on Leiden cult.
Genus Spathoglottis
Spathoglottis paulinae F.Muell., inflorescence, photo G. Stocker
Genus Spathoglottis
Spathoglottis plicata, flower, lateral view, photo E.F. de Vogel, based on PNG, Morobe Prov., Snake River Valley East of Mumeng
Genus Spathoglottis
Spathoglottis tomentosa Lindl. aff., flower, photo G. Stocker, this yellow flowered Spathoglottis is known from Manus Island (fide Howcroft) and needs further study to determine its status
Genus Spathoglottis
Spathoglottis parviflora Kraenzl., as Spathoglottis umbraticola Garay, habit and floral analysis, drawing N.H.S. Howcroft 590, based on LAE 79057