Paphiopedilum Pfitzer

Slipper Orchids

Greek Paphos – an Aegean island with a temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of love; pedilon – slipper; literally meaning the slipper of Aphrodite, because the labellum resembles a slipper.

Terrestrial or less often epiphytic or epilithic HERBS, sympodial, with thick roots. STEMS short, enclosed by leaf-bases. LEAVES apical, 2-several, ovate to strap-like, leathery, persistent, green or mottled, stalkless. INFLORESCENCES terminal racemes, erect. FLOWERS resupinate, 1-8, large, variously coloured. SEPALS dissimilar, dorsal large and free, laterals smaller and fused for their entire length. PETALS usually longer than sepals, free, spreading or hanging. LABELLUM pouched in distal half, 3-lobed, side lobes curved in. COLUMN short, with 2 fertile stamens and a fleshy staminodal plate at tip. POLLINIA 2 per anther, granular.

About 80 species from India to China, SE Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Pouched labellum resembling a slipper; lateral sepals completely fused; anthers 3, the middle one sterile.

Braem (1988), Hennessy et al. (1989), Cash (1991), Cribb (1998).

Source: Jeanes, J. (2005). Orchidaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

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kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Lilianae
order      Asparagales
family       Orchidaceae
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