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Cypripedioideae

(Subfamily)

Overview

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Lady's slipper orchids, lady slipper orchids or slipper orchids are the in the subfamily Cypripedioidea, which includes the genera Cypripedium, Mexipedium, Paphiopedilum, Phragmipedium and Selenipedium. They are characterised by the slipper-shaped pouches (modified labellums) of the flowers – the pouch traps insects so they are forced to climb up past the staminode, behind which they collect or deposit pollinia, thus fertilising the flower.

This subfamily has been considered by some to be a family Cypripediaceae, separate from the Orchidaceae.1]

Lady's slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus)

The subfamily Cypripedioideae is monophyletic and consists of five genera. Their common features are two fertile diandrous (that is, with two perfect stamens) anthers, a shield-shaped staminode and a saccate (sac-shaped) lip.

The Cypripedium genus is found across much of North America, as well as in parts of Europe. The state flower of Minnesota is the Showy Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium reginae). The Pink Lady's Slipper, (Cypripedium acaule), is the official state wildflower of New Hampshire. The Lady's Slipper is also the official provincial flower of Prince Edward Island, a province of Canada.

Paphiopedilums are found in the tropical forests of southeast Asia reaching as far north as southern China. Paphiopedilum is quite easy to cultivate and therefore is popular among orchid enthusiasts. In fact, overcollecting of this genus has caused some problems in its original habitat.

Phragmipedium, found across northern South and Central America, is also easy to cultivate as it requires lower temperatures than Paphiopedilum, eliminating the need for a greenhouse in many areas.

The lady's slipper is also known in the United States of America as the moccasin flower, from its resemblance to a shoe or moccasin.

Gallery

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Photos

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Taxonomy

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The Subfamily Cypripedioideae is a member of the Family Orchidaceae. Here is the complete "parentage" of Cypripedioideae:

The Subfamily Cypripedioideae is further organized into finer groupings including:

Genera

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Bidens

Annuals or perennials [shrubs, vines], 5400 cm. Stems usually 1, usually erect, (terete or 4-angled, often striate or sulcate) branched distally or ± throughout. Leaves usually cauline; usually opposite, rarely whorled, distal sometimes alternate; petiolate or sessile; blades simple, compound (leaflets petiolulate), or 13+-pinnatisect or -pinnately lobed (submerged leaves multifid in B. beckii, an aquatic), ultimate margins entire, dentate, laciniate, serrate, or toothed, faces usually glabrous, sometimes hirtellous, hispidulous, pilosulous, puberulent, scabrellous, or strigillose. Heads usually radiate or discoid, sometimes ± disciform, usually in corymbiform arrays, sometimes in 2s or 3s or borne singly. Calyculi of (3) 513(21+) erect to spreading or reflexed, ± herbaceous (sometimes foliaceous) bractlets or bracts (sometimes surpassing phyllaries). Involucres mostly hemispheric or campanulate to cylindric, (1) 412(25+) mm diam. Phyllaries persistent, mostly (4) 821(30+) in ± 2 series, usually distinct, sometimes connate 0.050.1 their lengths, mostly oblong or ovate to lance-oblong, chartaceous to membranous or scarious (usually striate with brownish nerves, margins usually hyaline). Receptacles flat or slightly convex, paleate; paleae usually falling, (usually stramineous, sometimes yellow to orange, with darker striae) ± flat to slightly navicular. Ray florets usually 121+ (often 3, 5, 8, or 13), sometimes 0, usually neuter, sometimes styliferous and sterile; corollas usually yellow, sometimes white or pinkish. Disc florets (5) 1260(150+), bisexual, fertile; corollas usually yellow to orange, sometimes whitish [purplish], tubes shorter than throats, lobes (3) 5, ± deltate (staminal filaments glabrous; style-branch appendages deltate or lanceolate to subulate). Cypselae usually obcompressed to flat, unequally 34-angled, and cuneate to oblanceolate or obovate, sometimes (all or inner) ± equally 4-angled and linear-fusiform, rarely subterete, margins (± corky-winged in B. aristosa, B. cernua, and B. polylepis) usually retrorsely, sometimes patently or antrorsely, barbed or ciliate, apices sometimes attenuate, not beaked [beaked], faces smooth, striate, or ± tuberculate, glabrous or hairy, each sometimes with 2 grooves; pappi 0, or persistent, of (1) 24(8) usually retrorsely, sometimes antrorsely, barbellate or ciliate, rarely smooth, awns. x = 13.[1] [more]

Biebersteinia

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Chamaeranthemum

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Cypripedium

Herbs, perennial. Roots closely to widely spaced along rhizome, slender, fleshy; rhizomes short to elongate. Stems leafy or scapose. Leaves alternate, in single radical pair, or subopposite near midpoint of stem, ascending to spreading, plicate, bases sheathing stem. Inflorescences terminal, solitary; flowers solitary or 2-several in lax racemose spike; bracts large, foliaceous. Flowers resupinate, showy; sepals distinct or lateral sepals usually connate proximal to lip forming synsepal; petals entire; lip inflated, slipper- or sac-shaped, with adaxial orifice; pollinaria absent; loose granular pollen in 2 lateral anthers, dorsal anther a large subapical staminode; stigma free, 2-3-lobed. Fruits capsules, ellipsoid to oblong-ellipsoid.[2] [more]

Cyrilla

Cyrilla racemiflora, the sole species in the genus Cyrilla, is a in the family Cyrillaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas, from the southeastern United States (coastal areas from southeastern Texas east to southeastern Virginia), south through the Caribbean, Mexico (Oaxaca only) and Central America to northern Brazil and Colombia in South America. Common names include Swamp Cyrilla, Titi (U.S.), Bwa wouj (Caribbean), and Leatherwood. [more]

Cyrtanthus

A Genus in the Kingdom Plantae. [more]

Cyrtopodium

Herbs, terrestrial or epiphytic, cespitose. Stems pseudobulbs, ovate-fusiform. Leaves deciduous, distichous; blade articulate, plicate, leathery, apex acuminate. Inflorescences from base of pseudobulbs, racemes to panicles, erect; floral bracts large, showy, margins undulate. Flowers resupinate, showy; sepals and petals membranaceous, margins often conspicuously undulate; lip adnate to apex of column foot, subsessile to conspicuously clawed, conspicuously 3-lobed, disc with tuberculate, cristate, or verrucose callus; column slightly arcuate, sometimes nearly club-shaped, semiterete, forming conspicuous foot; anther terminal, incumbent, operculate, imperfectly 2-locular; pollinia 2, yellow, nearly triangular, sulcate, cartilaginous, attached to short, trowel-shaped viscidium. Fruits capsules, pendent, pear-shaped.[3] [more]

Darwinia

Darwinia may mean: [more]

Echinopsis

Echinopsis is a large of cacti native to South America, sometimes known as hedgehog cacti, sea-urchin cactus or Easter lily cactus. One small species, E. chamaecereus, is known as the peanut cactus. The 128 species range from large and treelike types to small globose cacti. The name derives from echinos hedgehog or sea urchin, and opsis appearance, a reference to these plants' dense coverings of spines. [more]

Elmera

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Eriogonum

Shrubs, subshrubs, or herbs, sometimes nearly arborescent, perennial, biennial, or annual, polycarpic or, rarely, monocarpic (subg. Pterogonum), synoecious (sometimes polygamodioecious in subg. Micrantha and Oligogonum, rarely dioecious in subg. Oligogonum) ; taproot slender to stout, solid, or rarely chambered (subg. Pterogonum). Stems prostrate or decumbent to erect, infrequently absent, glabrous or pubescent, sometimes glandular; caudex stems absent or woody, tightly compact to spreading and at or just below surface, or spreading to erect and above surface; aerial flowering stems arising at nodes of caudex branches, at distal nodes of aerial branches, or directly from the root, prostrate or decumbent to erect, slender to stout, solid or slightly to distinctly hollow and fistulose, rarely disarticulating into ringlike segments (subg. Clastomyelon). Leaves usually persistent through anthesis, occasionally persistent through growing season or longer, sometimes marcescent or quickly deciduous, basal and sometimes sheathing up stems, cauline, or basal and cauline, alternate, opposite, or whorled, 1 per node or fasciculate; petiole usually present, sometimes obscure; blade linear to orbiculate, entire apically. Inflorescences terminal or terminal and axillary, cymose and dichotomously or trichotomously branched, or racemose, simple or compound-umbellate, subcapitate, or capitate, occasionally distally uniparous due to suppression of secondary branches; branches mostly dichotomous except for initial trichotomous node, not brittle or disarticulating into segments, round and smooth, rarely grooved, angled or ridged, variously lanate, tomentose, floccose, sericeous, hispid, pilose-pubescent, or puberulent, occasionally glandular, rarely scabrellous; bracts 2-13 or more at proximal nodes, usually 3 distally, connate proximally, leaflike, semileaflike, or scalelike, not awn-tipped, glabrous or variously pubescent or glandular. Peduncles absent or erect to deflexed. Involucres 1-8 or more per cluster, smooth or ribbed, tubular, cylindric or narrowly turbinate to broadly campanulate or hemispheric; teeth 5-10, sometimes lobelike, not awned. Flowers bisexual or, infrequently, unisexual, (2-) 6-100 per involucre at any single time during full anthesis, sometimes with stipelike base; perianth usually white to red or variously yellow, broadly campanulate when open, cylindric to urceolate when closed, glabrous or pubescent or glandular abaxially; tepals 6, connate proximally to 2 their length, monomorphic or dimorphic, usually entire apically, rarely emarginate; stamens 9; filaments adnate basally, glabrous or pubescent; anthers usually red to cream or yellow, oblong to ellipsoid or oval. Achenes included to exserted, various shades of brown, black, or occasionally yellow, rarely winged or ridged (subg. Pterogonum), lenticular or 3-gonous, glabrous or pubescent. Seeds: embryo curved or straight. x = 10.[4] [more]

Eupatorium

Perennials, 30-200 cm. Stems erect, usually not branched proximal to arrays of heads (from caudices or rhizomes) . Leaves mostly cauline; usually opposite (rarely whorled, distal sometimes alternate) ; petiolate or sessile; blades usually 3-nerved from or distal to bases, or pinnately nerved, mostly deltate or ovate to lanceolate or linear (and intermediate shapes, sometimes elliptic, oblong, rhombic, or suborbiculate, sometimes pinnatifid, 1-2-pinnately, ternately, or palmately lobed), ultimate margins entire or toothed, faces glabrous or puberulent, pubescent, scabrous, or setulose, usually gland-dotted. Heads discoid, in corymbiform or diffuse to dense, paniculiform arrays. Involucres obconic to ellipsoid, 1-3(-5+) mm diam. Phyllaries persistent, 7-15+ in 2-3(-4+) series, (usually green) 2-3-nerved, or not notably nerved, or pinnately nerved, elliptic, lanceolate, oblong, or obovate, usually unequal, sometimes ± equal (margins scarious, hyaline, apices rounded to acute or acuminate sometimes mucronate, faces usually puberulent or villous, usually gland-dotted, rarely glabrous) . Receptacles flat or convex, epaleate. Florets (3-) 5(-15+) ; corollas usually white, rarely pinkish, throats funnelform to campanulate, lobes 5, triangular; styles: bases sometimes enlarged, usually puberulent (glabrous in E. capillifolium), branches mostly filiform. Cypselae (brownish to black) prismatic, 5-ribbed, usually glabrous, usually gland-dotted; pappi persistent, of 20-50 (whitish) barbellulate bristles in 1 series. x = 10.[5] [more]

Leea

Erect shrubs or small trees. Leaves alternate, 1-4-pinnate, rarely simple or 3-foliolate. Inflorescences compound dichasial or umbelliform. Flowers 4- or 5-merous, bisexual. Lower part of petals adnate to staminodial tube on disk. Apex of staminodial tube 5-lobed, connate to each other by thinner tissue to form sinuses; apex of lobes retuse or 2-lobed, retusely apiculate to bifid. Filaments flattened, light brown, alternating with staminodial lobes, curved inward; anthers inverted and packed within staminodial tube in bud; filaments straight and anthers long-exserted in open flower. Disk deeply cupulate. Ovary discoid, 4-6(-10) -locular; ovule 1 per locule; style short; stigma slightly thickened. Berry depressed-subglobose, 4-6(-10) -seeded. Endosperm ruminate.[6] [more]

Paphiopedilum

The paphiopedilums ( Paphiopedilum) – often abbreviated Paph and colloquially known as paphs in horticulture – are flowering plants in the orchid family (Orchidaceae). It contains about 80 accepted species nowadays, some of which are natural hybrids. These slipper orchids are native to South China, India, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, and form their own subtribe, the Paphiopedilinae. [more]

Papuacedrus

Papuacedrus papuana is a species in the family Cupressaceae, the sole species in the genus Papuacedrus. Some botanists do not consider this species as forming a distinct genus, but include it in the related genus Libocedrus. It is native to New Guinea and the eastern Moluccas. [more]

Paradisea

Paradisea is a of flowering plants, formerly classified in the family Liliaceae or Anthericaceae but now placed in Agavaceae. The genus includes several species which were formerly classed as part of the genus Anthericum. [more]

Paradrymonia

Paradrymonia is a genus of in family Gesneriaceae. It contains the following species (among 40+ species): [more]

Phragmipedium

Phragmipedium is a of the Orchid family (Orchidaceae) (Subfamily Cypripedioideae) and the only genus comprised in the tribe Phragmipedieae and subtribe Phragmipediinae. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek phragma, which means "division", and pedium, which means "slipper" (referring to the pouch). It is abbreviated Phrag in trade journals. [more]

Pitcairnia

Pitcairnia is a of the botanical family Bromeliaceae, subfamily Pitcairnioideae. It was named for Dr. William Pitcairn, English physician and gardener (1711-1791). The genus Pitcairnia ranks as the second most prolific of the bromeliad family (after Tillandsia). They are most abundant in Colombia, Peru and Brazil, but can also be found in areas from Cuba and Mexico south to Argentina. [more]

At least 449 species and subspecies belong to the Genus Pitcairnia.

More info about the Genus Pitcairnia may be found here.

References

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  1. ^ Rasmussen, F. N. 1985. "Orchids". In R. M. Dahlgren, H. T. Clifford, and P. F. Yeo [eds.], The families of the monocotyledons. Springer Verlag, Berlin.

Bibliography

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Footnotes

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  1. John L. Strother, Ronald R. Weedon "Bidens". in Flora of North America Vol. 21 Page 184, 185, 205, 206. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.
  2. Charles J. Sheviak "Cypripedium". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 494, 495, 496, 497, 498, 499. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.
  3. Gustavo A. Romero-González "Cyrtopodium". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 495, 642. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.
  4. James L. Reveal "Eriogonum". in Flora of North America Vol. 5. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.
  5. Kunsiri Chaw Siripun, Edward E. Schilling "Eupatorium". in Flora of North America Vol. 21 Page 459, 461, 462, 470, 471. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.
  6. "Leea". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 169, 173. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Sources

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Last Revised: January 24, 2010
2010/01/24 04:02:17