Paphiopedilum

Venus slipper
Paphiopedilum henryanum
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Cypripedioideae
Genus: Paphiopedilum
Pfitzer
Type species
Paphiopedilum insigne
Subgenera

7, see text

Diversity
About 80 species
Synonyms[2]
  • Cordula Raf.
  • Menephora Raf.
  • Stimegas Raf.

Paphiopedilum, often called the Venus slipper, is a genus of the lady slipper orchid subfamily Cypripedioideae of the flowering plant family Orchidaceae. The genus comprises some 80 accepted taxa including several natural hybrids. The genus is native to Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, southern China, New Guinea and the Solomon and Bismarck Islands. The type species of this genus is Paphiopedilum insigne.[2][3][4]

The species and their hybrids are extensively cultivated, and are known as either paphiopedilums, or by the abbreviation paphs in horticulture.

Due to their popularity, Paphiopedilums have been ruthlessly gathered and poached from the wild, making them very rare or extinct there. As soon as a new species or population is discovered, poachers will take the plants for orchid collectors who pay large sums of money. Habitat destruction is an additional factor contributing to their rarity.[5][6][7]

  1. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  2. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  3. ^ Koopowitz, H. (2012). An updated, annotated checklist of the genus Paphiopedilum. Orchid Digest 76: 178-215.
  4. ^ Leong, K.F. (2013). Flora of Peninsular Malaysia - Cypripedioideae. Malesian Orchid Journal 12: 117-131.
  5. ^ “Paphiopedilum insigne, Splendid Paphiopedilum”, Assessment by: Rankou, H. & Kumar, P. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. ISSN 2307-8235. Accessed on 23.12.2021.
  6. ^ Pham, The & Averyanov, L.V. & Phan, Loc & Tien, Hiep & Xuan, Canh & Tien, Vinh & Quang, Hieu. (2014). Field survey of Paphiopedilum canhii: from discovery to extinction. Slipper Orchids FALL. 2014. 2-11.
  7. ^ Amy Hinsley, Hugo J de Boer, Michael F Fay, Stephan W Gale, Lauren M Gardiner, Rajasinghe S Gunasekara, Pankaj Kumar, Susanne Masters, Destario Metusala, David L Roberts, Sarina Veldman, Shan Wong, Jacob Phelps, A review of the trade in orchids and its implications for conservation, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 186, Issue 4, April 2018, Pages Pages 435–455, https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/box083