Pteroglossa
(pronounced: tayr-oh-GLOS-sah)
Classification
Cranichideae subtribe Spiranthinae
Award Photo Gallery
This gallery contains examples of AOS award photos within this alliance.
(click an image above to view the close-up gallery with name and award granted for each orchid pictured)
If you are an AOS Member, access OrchidPro online to browse and search over 100,000 photos of award-winning orchids and more.
If you are not an AOS member, discover the benefits of joining today
Overview
Rosulate terrestrials with fleshy, fasciculate roots. Leaves sessile, +/- absent at time of flowering. Inflorescences erect, scapose, densely-flowered spicate racemes, the floral bracts conspicuous, longer than the ovary. Flower cupped, resupinate. Sepals and petals free, the sepals subsimilar, the petals appressed to the dorsal sepal forming a hood over the column and lip, the lateral sepals forming a broad spur at the base, the spur parallel to the ovary and free at the base. Lip three-lobed, sessile. Column with a long foot, the foot fused to the ovary for most of its length, with two free stigmas or the stigma bilobed, the rostellum +/- triangular, acute, rigid; pollinia 2, club-shaped with a minute viscidium.
Distribution
A genus of eight species native to South America.
Care and Culture Card
See basic growing conditions and care information below.
Grow Pteroglossa in pots in a rich terrestrial mixture. Provide high light and intermediate to warm temperatures. Water heavily when in active growth, tapering off to a maintenance watering after flowering. Pteroglossa are native to seasonally wet grasslands often associated with bodies of water.
Literature
Garay, L. A. 1980. A generic revision of the Spiranthinae. Bot. Mus. Leafl. Harv. Univ. 28(4):277-425.
FREE ACCESS: Orchid DealWire
Get notified when orchid vendors have special promotions and exclusive savings.
