Orchidaceae
Polystachya
Kingdom: Plantae Rank: Genus Parent: Orchidaceae Status: Valid
Morphological Description
Diagnosis:
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1 Leaves linear, less than 1 cm wide. ....... P. boliviensis
1’ Leaves oblong-lanceolate, more than 2 cm wide. ......... 2
2 Flowers with a column foot subequal to the column, particularly visible in fruit. ............... P. concreta
2’ Flowers with an indistinct column foot, no foot present in fruit. ........................................ P. foliosa
Vegetative Morphology
Habit: Caespitose epiphytes, lithophytes or terrestrials (not in our flora). Pseudobulbs slender, ovoid to subcylindric from a swollen base, concealed by persistent leaf bases.
Leaves: Leaves several, loosely alternate distichous.
Reproductive Morphology
Inflorescence: Inflorescences terminal racemes or more commonly panicles, the branches usually orienting vertically, the floral bracts minute.
Flowers: Flowers not resupinate, cupped, variable in color, yellow-green (in our flora) to white, pink, orange, or red. Sepals and petals free, spreading, the sepals elliptic-ovate to broadly ovate-triangular, the petals slender, oblong. Lip 3-lobed, concave, with a basal callus, the surface often convered with farinaceous trichomes. Column stout, +/- a foot, without wings; pollinia 4, attached to a minute common viscidium.