Giant climbing orchid | |
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Pseudovanilla foliata | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Order: | Asparagales |
Family: | Orchidaceae |
Subfamily: | Vanilloideae |
Tribe: | Vanilleae |
Genus: | Pseudovanilla Garay[1] |
Type species | |
Ledgeria foliata F.Muell. |
Pseudovanilla, commonly known as giant climbing orchids, is a genus of eight climbing orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus have tall climbing stems with clinging roots, leaf-like bracts and branching flowering stems with colourful, spreading sepals and petals. Species in the genus are native to Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, Solomons, Micronesia and Fiji.[1][2]
The genus was first formally described in 1986 by Leslie Andrew Garay in Botanical Museum Leaflets, the name Pseudovanilla meaning "false vanilla", a "reference to the casual similarity of the plants to both genera". Garay nominated Ledgeria foliata (now Pseudovanilla foliata as the type species.[3]