Spiranthes torta (Thunb.) Garay & H.R.Sweet 1974
Photos courtesy of © Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz
Drawing by © Carl Luer
LATE
Common Name The Twisted Spiranthes
Flower Size .15" [3 mm]
Found in Florida, Bermuda, Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Fr Guiana? on damp shady banks and in pastures at elevations around sealevel to 1500 meters as a small to medium sized, hot to warm growing terrestrial with numerous, elongate tuberoids giving rise to an erect, and carrying basal, membraneaceous, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate leaves that blooms in the late winter and spring on an erect, peduncle to 12" [30 cm] long, enveloped by 7 remote, tubular below, lanceolate above sheathing bracts, slender, rachis to 8" [to 20 cm] long, spirally twisted, puberulent, densely many flowered inflorescence with green, ovate, acuminate, longer than the ovary floral bracts and carrying often fragrant flowers that are arranged in one row that twists around the inflorescence.
Synonyms Gyrostachys apiculata (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Ibidium quinquelobatum (Poir.) Acuña 1939; Ibidium tortile (Sw.) House 1906; Ibidium xyridifolium Small 1913; Neottia quadridentata Willd. 1805; Neottia tortilis Sw. 1805; Ophrys peruviana Aubl. 1775; Ophrys quinquelobata Poir. 1798; *Ophrys torta Thunb.1791; Satyrium spirale Sw. 1788; Spiranthes amesiana Schltr. 1920; Spiranthes apiculata Lindl. 1840; Spiranthes laxiflora Raf. 1837; Spiranthes quadridentata (Willd.) Lindl. 1824; Spiranthes quinquelobata (Poir.) Urb. 1918; Spiranthes swartzii E.H.L.Krause 1914; Spiranthes tortilis (Sw.) Rich. 1817; Triorchis spiralis House 1920
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ;
Hist. Pl. Guiane 2: 816 Aubl. 1775 as Ophrys peruviana Aubl. 1775
Prodr. Veg. Ind. Occ.: 118 Sw. 1788 as Satyrium spirale
Mus. Nat. Acad. Ups. (Dissert.) 9: 136 Thunb. 1791 as Ophrys torta
Encycl. 4: 568 Poir. 1798 as Ophrys quinquelobata
Sp. Pl., ed. 4. 4: 73 Willd. 1805 as Neottia quadridentata
Neues J. Bot. 1(1): 51 Sw. 1805 as Neottia tortilis
De Orchid. Eur.: 37 Rich 1817 as Spiranthes tortilis
Bot. Reg. 10: t. 823 Lindley 1824 as Spiranthes quadridentata
Fl. Tellur. 2: 88 Raf. 1837 as Spiranthes laxiflora
Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 474 Lindley 1840 as Spiranthes apiculata
Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 664 Kuntze 1891 as Gyrostachys apiculata
Studies in the Family Orchidaceae Vol 1: 131 Ames 1905;
Muhlenbergia 1: 129 House 1906 as Ibidium tortilis
Flora of Jamaica: 25 Fawcett & Rendle 1910
Flora of Jamaica: pl 3 fig 1-5 Fawcett & Rendle 1910drawing fide;
Fl. S.E. U.S., ed. 2: 319 Small 1913 as Ibidium xyridifolium
Fl. S.E. U.S., ed. 2: 318 Small 1913as Gyrostachys xyridifolium
Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 32(2): 342 E.H.L.Krause 1914 as Spiranthes swartzii
Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915 as L[sic] tortilis
Fl. Bermuda: 90 Britton 1918 as Ibidium xyridifolium;
Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 15: 305 Urban 1918 as Spiranthes quinquelobata
Beih. Bot. Centralbl. 37(2): 348 Schlechter 1920 as Spiranthes amesiana
Amer. Midl. Naturalist 6: 206 House 1920 as Triorchis spiralis nom. superfl.
Bol. Estaçión Exp. Agron. Santiago de las Vegas 60: 33 Acuna 1939 as Ibidium quinquelobatum
Flore Descriptive des Antilles Francaises H. Stehle 1939 as S apiculata drawing fide;
Flore Descriptive des Antilles Francaises H. Stehle 1939 as S quinquelobata;
Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960 as Spiranthes tortilis;
Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965;
The Native Orchids of Florida: 99/101 Luer 1972 as S tortilis drawing/photos fide;
* Fl. Lesser Antilles, Orchid.: 77 Garay & Sweet 1974 drawing fide;
Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 1176 Hamer 1984 drawing ok as S amesiana;
Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 1178 Hamer 1984 drawing ok;
An Orchid Flora of Peurto Rico and the Virgin Islands Ackerman 1995;
Harvard Pap. Bot. 5 #2: Carnevali etal. 2001;
Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003;
The Orchids of Cuba Llamacho & Larramendi 2005 photo fide;
Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018
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