Bletia

• Authority

  Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

• Family

  Orchidaceae

• Scientific Name

  Bletia

• Description

  Description - Terrestrial orchids, with globose or ovoid corms, narrow, elongated linear or lanceolate leaves, the slender sheathed scape arising from the side of the corm, the large purple or pink flowers in simple or branched racemes. Sepals nearly alike, ovate to oblong. Petals similar to the sepals. Lip broad, 5-7-crested, 3-lobed. Column elongated. Anther 2-celled; pollinia obovate, waxy. Capsules oblong, erect. [Commemorates L. Blet, a Spanish apothecary.] About 45 species, mostly of tropical America. Type species: Bletia catenuJata R. & P.