Cyclopogon cranichoides (Griseb.) Schltr.

  • 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

    Cyclopogon cranichoides (Griseb.) Schltr.

  • Description

    Species Description - Plants small, terrestrial herbs to 40 cm tall. Roots fleshy, fusiform, 4-8 mm diam, near base. Leaves several, forming a loose basal rosette, spreadint; petioles 11-35 mm long; blades broadly elliptic to ovate, 2.5-7 cm long, 13-33 mm wide, purplish below, dark green above. Inflorescences mottled, purplish, slender, pubescent, spike many-flowered, continuously elongating as fruits mature, to 15 cm long; floral bracts mottled, lanceolate, usually shorter than the flowers but longer than the ovary. Flowers small, resupinate. Ovary 4-7 mm long. Sepals pubescent, greenish brown; dorsal sepal linear-elliptic to linear-pandurate, acute, 3.5-5 mm long, 1.2-2 mm wide; lateral sepals often reflexed, linearelliptic to linear-pandurate, acute, 4-6 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide. Petals brownish, linear spatulate-oblanceolate, acute, oblique, loosely adnate to the dorsal sepal, to 4.5 mm long, 0.5-1 mm wide. Lip white, to 5 mm long, 2.5 mm wide, basally gibbose, oblong, constricted above the middle, slightly flared at the apex, provided with a pair of basal tubercles. Column slender, clavate, ca. 3.5 mm long; pollinia yellow. Fruits erect, ellipsoidal, 6-8 mm long, 3.5-4.5 mm diam.

  • Discussion

    1. Cyclopogon cranichoides (Grisebach) Schlechter, Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 37(2): 387. 1920. Pelexia cranichoides Grisebach, Cat. PL Cub. 269. 1866. Spiranthes cranichoides (Grisebach) Cogniaux in Urban, Symb. Ant. 4: 338. 1909. Beadlea cranichoides (Grisebach) Small, Fl. S.E. U.S., ed. 2, 1375. 1913. Type. C. Wright 3293, from Cuba (K; reported at AMES, not seen). Fig. 14. Phenology & Pollination. Flowers appear from February to April, and mature fruits shortly thereafter. When the fruits are dehiscing and the seeds are dispersing, the leaves are withering as the plant dies back to its underground stem and thick fleshy roots. Cyclopogon cranichoides may be seen growing and flowering simultaneously with C. elatus. In Florida (U.S.A.), Calvo (1990) found that fruit production in C. cranichoides was pollination-limited. Natural fruit set was 26-62% over a 4-year period, whereas hand-pollinations gave better than 9 6 % fruit set. Although in most other studies of orchids (e.g., Ackerman & Montalvo, 1990), a cost of reproduction could be detected, none could be detected in Calvo's study.

  • Distribution

    General Distribution. Bahamas, Central and tropical South America, Florida (U.S.A.), and West Indies.

    Bahamas South America| Central America| South America| United States of America North America| West Indies| Puerto Rico South America|