Beloglottis

Beloglottis costaricensis (as syn. Spiranthes costaricensis ) Table I. 1-3 in Volume II Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach Xenia Orchidacea (1858-1900)

Beloglottis is a genus of the orchid family ( Orchidaceae). It consists of about seven to ten species of herbaceous plants that are native to tropical America.

Description

The species of the genus Beloglottis are small, herbaceous plants. They grow on rocks ( lithophytic ) or epiphytic, rarely also terrestrial. The roots are hairy and slightly thickened fleshy fusiform. Four to seven -stalked leaves are in a rosette. They are oval shaped to lanceolate and run at the end to a point.

The racemose inflorescence appears terminal, he is slim and upright. At the bottom of the inflorescence axis is bald, hairy above. At intervals he is busy with bracts, these enclose it more or less tubular, they have a pointedly plated finish. The bracts are glandular- hairy, lanceolate, pointed also extended ending. The ovary is slender, slightly glandular- hairy, twisted, and not stalked. The numerous small flowers are loose or close together, they are 'upside. They are greenish - white and fragrant. The sepals are free or fused at the base of something to each other, at least the lower half is glandular hairy on the outside. They form a tube, only the tips are repulsed. The lateral sepals are asymmetrical at the base. The lateral petals are the dorsal sepal adherent. The lip is abruptly narrowed at the base ( nailed ), the narrow base is fused with the lateral sepals. Directed two backwards nectar glands follow the transition to the wider front part of the lip ( absent in Beloglottis ecallosa ). The lamina of the lip is bent along rinnig, the raised sides adhere to the column and forms with it a tube. The column itself is rather short, at the base asymmetrical about the ovary in projection ( pedestal ). The column is partially adherent to the dorsal sepal. The scar consists of two forward facing surfaces that touch in the middle. The separation between scar tissue and stamen ( rostellum ) is divided into two parts. The stamen is oval, pointed forward, slightly cordate at the base. It is surrounded by an inflated balloon-like tissue of the column ( Klinandrium ) and two staminodes. The pollinia are club-shaped, the narrow Klebdrüse ( Viscidium ) sits between the rostellum lobes.

Occurrence

Beloglottis is widespread in tropical America. There it comes from Florida in the north to Central America to northern South America before, further the occurrence pulls along the Andes to Peru and the extreme north-west of Argentina. The species occur from sea level to 2,000 meters before. They are found in rain forests and cloud forests, occasionally in drier forests.

Systematics and botanical history

Beloglottis is classified within the tribe Cranichideae in the subtribe Spiranthinae. Related genera are Aulosepalum and Svenkoeltzia.

During writes Gerardo Salazar of about ten species, of Kew Gardens, only the following seven are counted to Beloglottis:

• Beloglottis boliviensis Schltr.
• Beloglottis costaricensis ( Rchb.f. ) Schltr.
• Beloglottis ecallosa (Ames & C.Schweinf. ) Hamer & Garay in F.Hamer
• Beloglottis hameri Garay in F.Hamer
• Beloglottis laxispica Catling
• Beloglottis mexicana Garay & Hamer in F.Hamer
• Beloglottis subpandurata (Ames & C.Schweinf. ) Garay

Documents

The information in this article come from mainly:

• James D. Ackerman: Beloglottis. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee ( eds.): Flora of North America North of Mexico. 26, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford 1993 , p 522 ( eFloras.org, accessed 3 January 2008 ).
• Leslie A. Garay: 225 (1). Orchidaceae ( Cypripedioideae, Orchidoideae and Neottioideae ). In: Gunnar Harling, Benkt Sparre (eds.): Flora of Ecuador. 9, 1978, ISSN 0347-8742, p 253
• Leslie A. Garay: A generic revision of the Spiranthinae. In: Botanical Museum Leaflets of Harvard University. 28, No. 4, 1982, p 302
• Alec M. Pridgeon, Phillip Cribb, Mark W. Chase and Finn Rasmussen ( ed.): Genera Orchidacearum. Orchidoideae (Part 2). Vanilloideae. 3/2, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford 2003, ISBN 0-19-850711-9, pp. 174-176.

Furthermore, quoting:

Postgraduate

• List of Orchid Genera