Ponthieva

Shadow witch
Hairy shadow witch
(Ponthieva racemosa)
1805 illustration[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Cranichideae
Subtribe: Cranichidinae
Genus: Ponthieva
R.Br. in W.T.Aiton (1813)
Type species
Neottia glandulosa (now synonym of Ponthieva racemosa (Walter) C.Mohr )
Sims, Bot. Mag. 22: t. 842 (1805).
Synonyms[2]
  • Nerissa Raf.
  • Androchilus Liebm. ex Hartm.
  • Ocampoa A.Rich. & Galeotti
  • Schoenleinia Klotzsch ex Lindl.
  • Calorchis Barb.Rodr.
  • Exalaria Garay & G.A.Romero

Ponthieva is a genus in the orchid family (Orchidaceae), commonly known as the shadow witch.[3] They are named after Henry de Ponthieu, an English merchant of Huguenot ancestry who sent West Indian plant collections to Sir Joseph Banks in 1778.

Ponthieva is widely distributed in the southeastern United States, the West Indies, and Latin America from Mexico to Argentina.[2][4][5][6][7]

They are mainly terrestrial plants with sympodial growth, but some are epiphytes. Their fibrous root show long and soft hairs. Some of the branches are thickened. The simple stem grows from rhizomes and carries thin, basal leaves with a slight to a somewhat longer stalk. The few to many, erect flowers grow on bracteate peduncles in a terminal raceme. Their dorsal sepal is slightly joined to the petals at the apex. The petals are free or sometimes fused to lower flanks of the column. The lateral sepals are distinct or joined.[4]

The clawed lip is fused to the base of the short column. This is semiterete, i.e. in the form of a cylinder, rounded on one side and flat on the other. It is slightly winged towards the pointed apex.[4]

There are four, yellow, club-shaped pollinia that are joined in pairs.[4]

  1. ^ Sydenham Edwards (1768 – 1819) del. F. (= Franciscus) Sansom sc. - "Curtis's botanical magazine" vol.22 pl. 842
  2. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  3. ^ Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P.J., Chase, M.C. & Rasmussen, F.N. (2003). Genera Orchidacearum 3: 1-358. Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford.
  4. ^ a b c d Flora of North America v 26 p 547, Ponthieva R. Brown, Hortus Kew. 5: 199. 1813.
  5. ^ Biota of North America Program, county distribution map, genus Ponthieva
  6. ^ Forzza, R. C. 2010. Lista de espécies Flora do Brasil http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/2010 Archived 2015-09-06 at the Wayback Machine. Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro
  7. ^ Carnevali F., G., J. L. Tapia-Muñoz, R. Jiménez-Machorro, L. Sánchez-Saldaña, L. Ibarra-González, I. M. Ramírez & M. P. Gómez. 2001. Notes on the flora of the Yucatan Peninsula II: a synopsis of the orchid flora of the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula and a tentative checklist of the Orchidaceae of the Yucatan Peninsula biotic province. Harvard Papers in Botany 5(2): 383–466.