Bletia

• Authority

  Ackerman, James D. 1995. An orchid flora of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 73: 1-203.

• Family

  Orchidaceae

• Scientific Name

  Bletia

• Description

  Genus Description - Plants sympodial, terrestrial, caespitose herbs. Roots fleshy, velamentous. Rhizomes short, stout. Secondary stems pseudobulbous. Leaves few, articulate, petiolate, thin, plicate, deciduous. Inflorescences scapose, lateral, basal, erect, sometimes branched, to 1 m high. Flowers showy, resupinate. Sepals and petals subsimilar, free. Lip attached to base of column, free, entire to trilobed; disc lamellate or with 5-7 denticulate crests. Column elongate, arcuate, winged above; stigma entire; anther terminal, incumbent; pollinia 8 in 2 sets of 4, yellow, compressed, hard, waxy. Fruit a caspule.

• Discussion

  Bletia Ruiz & Pavon, Fl. Peruv. Prodr. 119, t. 26. 1794. Type species. Bletia catenulata Ruiz & Pavon of tropical South America. A neotropical genus composed of about 26 species. The generic name honors Luis Blet, a Catalonian apothecary of the eighteenth century who accompanied Ruiz and Pavon on their N e w World explorations. Special Literature. Dressier, 1968; Lauener & Paul, 1985.