Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Pteroglossaspis ecristata

giant orchid
Habit Plants 30–130 cm.
Leaves

blade linear-lanceolate, 15–70 × 1–3.5 cm, apex long-acuminate.
Inflorescences

erect, densely flowered toward apex, to 170 cm.
Flowers

yellowish green with purplish brown markings, 0.75–1 cm wide;

sepals and petals converging over column and disc of lip in natural position, yellowish green;

sepals oblong, 10–15 × 4–5 mm, apex acuminate;

lateral sepals slightly oblique;

petals oblong-elliptic, 8–15 × 4–5 mm;

lip dark purplish brown with green margins, 3-lobed, middle lobe strongly reflexed in natural position, nearly circular, 5–10 × 5–10 mm including lateral lobes, apex obtuse, lateral lobes incurved in natural position, truncate to obtuse;

disc green;

column green, 3–4 mm, apex blunt.
Capsules

ovoid, to 2 cm.
Pseudobulbs

underground.

Pteroglossaspis ecristata
Phenology Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Old fields, pine savanna, and scrub oak lands
Elevation 0–200[–500] m (0–700[–1600] ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; LA; NC; SC; West Indies (Cuba); South America (Colombia)
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Cyrtopodium stricta, described by Grisebach in 1866, is referable to this species (G. A. Romero-G. 1993). Despite the nomenclatural priority of the epithet stricta over ecristata, it cannot now be taken up in Pteroglossaspis because of the existence of P. stricta Schlechter, an African species described in 1915. Moreover, when Rolfe transferred Cyrtopodium ecristatum to Pteroglossaspis in 1904, he did not include Cyrtopodium strictum Grisebach within his concept of the species, and so his name Pteroglossaspis ecristata is legitimate. Pteroglossaspis ecristata has a spotty distribution throughout its range, perhaps because of its rather inconspicuous habit (D. S. Correll 1950). 

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 641.
Parent taxa Orchidaceae > subfam. Epidendroideae > tribe Cymbidieae > subtribe Eulophiinae > Pteroglossaspis
Synonyms Cyrtopodium ecristatum, Bletia verecunda, Cyrtopodium strictum, Eulophia ecristata, Triorchos ecristatus, Triorchos strictus
Name authority (Fernald) Rolfe: Orchid Rev. 12: 136. (1904)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers