Cranichis

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Cranichis
Cranichis candida Illustration from Martius' Flora Brasiliensis

Cranichis candida
Illustration from Martius' Flora Brasiliensis

Systematics
Order : Asparagales (Asparagales)
Family : Orchids (orchidaceae)
Subfamily : Orchidoideae
Tribe : Cranichideae
Sub tribus : Cranichidinae
Genre : Cranichis
Scientific name
Cranichis
Sw.

Cranichis is a plant genus in the family of orchids (Orchidaceae). The good sixty species arewidespreadin the Neotropic .

description

The Cranichis species are perennial herbaceous plants . They thrive terrestrially and in clumps. The roots , which arise close together, are fleshy and hairy. The foliage leaves , mostly in basal rosettes, rarely distributed on the stem, are usually divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The fleshy, simple leaf blades are oval to lanceolate, rather upright or spread out in a curve and are present at the time of flowering.

Zygomorphic flower of Cranichis candida

The racemose inflorescence is terminal and upright. The inflorescence axis is hairy, it is covered with a few tightly fitting bracts . The flowers are rather small, they are not resupinated . The ovary is stalked and hairy. The hermaphrodite flowers are zygomorphic and threefold. The three sepals are of thin texture, shaped roughly the same as each other, more or less spread out. The lateral petals are much narrower, often ciliate at the edge. The lip is quite fleshy, shell-shaped, simple or lobed, often with a conspicuously colored reticulate vein. The column is short to very short, fleshy. At the top of the column sits the large, slightly three-lobed scar surrounded by a raised rim . The rostellum between the stigma and the stamen is straight and pointed. The stamen sits abaxially in a bowl-shaped tissue (clinandrium), it is straight and elongated-oval shaped. The four pollinia are club-shaped, four of the pollen adhere together (tetrads), which in turn stick together in larger, crumbly pieces. The pollinia stick to a common round viscidium , this sits at the end of the rostellum.

Occurrence

The genus Cranichis is widespread in the Neotropics from Mexico in the north over all of Central America and the Caribbean islands to all of tropical South America . The greatest diversity is found in the Andes . The species occur at altitudes of 300 to 3000 meters. They mostly colonize forests, more rarely open situations.

Systematics

The genus Cranichis was established by Swartz in 1788 . The generic name Cranichis is derived from the Greek word κράνος kranos for "helmet" and refers to the arched lip that sits on top of the flower. Type species is Cranichis muscosa .

The genus Cranichis belongs to the subtribe Cranichidinae from the tribe Cranichideae in the subfamily Orchidoideae within the family Orchidaceae .

Cranichis diphylla
Cranichis diphylla

There are around 62 species of Cranichis :

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Cranichis. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved March 24, 2020.

literature

  • James D. Ackerman: Cranichis . In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Ed.): Flora of North America North of Mexico . Magnoliophyta: Liliidae: Liliales and Orchidales. Volume 26. Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford 2002, ISBN 0-19-515208-5 , pp. 546 ( efloras.org - online with the same text as the printed work).
  • Leslie A. Garay: 225 (1). Orchidaceae (Cypripedioideae, Orchidoideae and Neottioideae) . In: Gunnar Harling, Benkt Sparre (ed.): Flora of Ecuador . tape 9 , 1978, ISSN  0347-8742 , p. 188 .
  • Alec M. Pridgeon, Phillip Cribb, Mark W. Chase, Finn Rasmussen (Eds.): Genera Orchidacearum. Orchidoideae (Part 2). Vanilloideae . tape 3/2 . Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford 2003, ISBN 0-19-850711-9 , pp. 29-33 .

Web links

Commons : Cranichis  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
 Wikispecies: Cranichis  - Species Directory

See also