Spiranthes torta (Thunb.) Garay & H.R.Sweet
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Authority
Ackerman, James D. 1995. An orchid flora of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 73: 1-203.
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Family
Orchidaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Plants slender terrestrials, to 7 dm tall. Roots fleshy, fasciculate, glabrous to villous, to 6 cm long, 6 mm diam. Leaves generally withering at anthesis, basal, few, linear, to 30 cm long, 1.5-7 mm wide. Inflorescences terminal, erect, slender; scape partially concealed by tubular sheaths; raceme densely manyflowered; floral bracts lanceolate, concealing the ovary. Flowers somewhat tubular, resupinate, oriented horizontally, arranged in a single spiraling row. Pedicellate ovary erect, 3-5 mm long. Sepals and petals white with green midveins, connivent with reflexedspreading apices, ca. equal, 5-8 mm long. Dorsal sepal more or less oblong, 1.5-2 mm wide; lateral sepals obliquely ovatelanceolate, 1.5-2 mm wide. Petals linear-oblong, united to the dorsal sepal, ca. 1.5 mm wide. Lip white with a green or yellowishgreen throat; paired fleshy auricles at base, oblong to pandurate, apical margin crinkled, strongly recurved, ca. 7.5 mm long, 3.5 mm wide. Column subterete, apically toothed, ca. 4 mm long; pollinia attached to an acicular viscidium. Fruits ellipsoidal-obovoid, 6-8 mm long.
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Discussion
1. Spiranthes torta (Thunberg) Garay & Sweet in R. A. Howard, Fl. Less. Antill., Orchid. 77. 1974. Ophrys torta Thunberg, M u s . Nat. Acad. Upsal. 9: 136. 1791. Type. Swartz s.n., from Jamaica (UPS). Satyrium spirale Swartz, Nov. Gen. Sp. PL Prodr. 118. 1788. Neottia tortilis Swartz, Kongl. Vetensk. Acad. Nya Handl. 21: 226. 1800. Spiranthes tortilis (Swartz) Richard, D e orchid. Eur. 37. 1817. Ibidium tortile (Swartz) House, Muhlenbergia 1: 129. 1906. Type. Swartz s.n., Jamaica (BM). Phenology & Pollination. Plants bloom mostly in the winter and spring. Its breeding system and pollinators are unknown. Taxonomic Notes. In Puerto Rico, Spiranthes torta is easily distinguished from species of the segregate genera by its linear leaves and spiraled inflorescence. The Swartz specimen at B M is marked as both Neottia tortilis and Satyrium spirale and presumably serves as the type for both names. Illustrations. Fawcett & Rendle, 1910; Correll, 1950; CA. Luer, 1972; Garay & Sweet, 1974.
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Distribution
General Distribution. Belize, Bermuda, Florida and Louisiana (U.S.A.), Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Trinidad, and West Indies.
Belize Central America| Bermuda South America| United States of America North America| Guatemala Central America| Honduras Central America| Mexico North America| Nicaragua Central America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| West Indies|