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Key to epiphytic orchids: Key to Orchidaceae

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image of plant
Show caption*© Keith Bradley
1 Plant a vine, the main stems long and climbing up the trunks or stems of other woody plants; stems succulent
1 Plant not a vine, instead a cespitose, trailing, rhizomatous, or hanging herb; stems not succulent.
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Show caption*© Alan Cressler: Tolumnia bahamensis, Martin County, Florida 2 by Alan Cressler
  2 Leaves equitant in a fan-like array; plants growing as a twig-epiphyte primarily on Ceratiola ericoides and perhaps occasionally scrub oaks; [limited to xeric scrub habitat in Martin and Palm Beach counties, FL].
    3 Flowers primarily white with yellow, brown, and purple coloration; without dark streaks extending down the middle lobe of the lip.
    3 Flowers bright pink to dark purple; with 5 darker purple streaks (the middle partially yellow) extending down the middle lobe of the lip.
image of plant
Show caption*© Scott Ward
  2 Leaves not equitant or fan-like; plants not twig epiphytes in xeric scrub; [in a wide variety of cypress swamps, mesic hardwood hammocks, sloughs, strands, or otherwise non-xeric, swampy habitats throughout; occasionally in crevices of grit outcrops (e.g. Epidendrum conopseum)].
image of plant
Show caption*© Scott Ward
      4 Plant without pseudobulbs or basally thickened stems, instead only with fleshy, glabrous, fibrous, or chlorophyllous roots
        5 Plants with fleshy, glabrous, or fibrous roots, not evidently photosynthetic or velamentous; plants with 1 to many leaves.
          6 Stems with numerous alternate, cauline leaves; leaf blades ovate to elliptic or lanceolate, fleshy-leathery
          6 Stems with a single leaf, erect and sessile or subsessile; leaf blades elliptic to oblanceolate, leathery.
             7 Inflorescences few flowered racemes (occasionally several-flowered), 0.8-2 cm long; flowers dark red-purple, glabrous, typically congested near apex of inflorescence; stems 1.5-5 (-8) cm long with 4-8 closely appressed, ciliate sheaths; leaf blades < 2.5 cm long.
             7 Inflorescences many-flowered racemes, (6-)10-25 (-28) cm long; flowers pubescent, translucent yellow, often spaced throughout the inflorescence; stems 10-25 cm long with 2-3 loose, inflated sheaths; leaf blades > 10 cm.
        5 Plants with chlorophyllous roots, evidently photosynthetic, velamentous (with thick spongy root epidermis); plants with leaves absent, early deciduous, or otherwise inconspicuous.
               8 Inflorescence a densely arranged, 2-ranked, erect or pendent spike with more than 12 flowers; flowers sessile at the node; floral bracts cordate; spur saccate
               8 Inflorescence a moderate to loosely flowered raceme with 1-10 flowers (less than 12), floral bracts lanceolate; spur arcuate or scrotiform.
image of plant
Show caption*© Craig Peter, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Craig Peter
image of plant
Show caption*© Keith Bradley
                 9 Chlorophyllous roots with prominent white marks; perianth segments (sepals/petals) > 20 mm, white to cream-colored; middle lobe of lip with subquadrangular isthmus, between 2 twisting caudate lobes 45-70 mm long; arcuate spurs to 17 cm long; roots 3-5 mm wide.
image of plant
Show caption*© Alan Cressler: Harrisella porrecta, Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, Collier County, Florida 1 by Alan Cressler
                 9 Chlorophyllous roots without white marks; perianth segments (sepals/petals) < 4 mm long; lip ovate, lacking long caudate lobes, pale yellow; scrotiform spurs to 4 mm long; roots < 1 mm wide
      4 Plant with pseudobulbs (thickened stems), pseudobulbs sometimes inconspicuous, reduced, or appearing as basally thickened stems.
                   10 Pseudobulbs inconspicuous or not prominent (stems appearing basally thickened or pseudobulb reduced); reduced pseudobulbs often concealed by longer, scarious, leafy bracts.
image of plant
Show caption*© Alan Cressler: Trichocentrum undulatum, Cape Sable, Everglades National Park, Monroe County, Florida 1 by Alan Cressler
                     11 Plants with a single, solitary, thick (coriaceous) elliptic leaf; flowers with prominent blotches
                     11 Plants with multiple leaves per stem (2-6); leaves linear-lanceolate or oblong-elliptic; flowers without prominent blotches.
                       12 Inflorescence erect-arching, not strongly secund and not curved upward at apex; flowers lavender or violet to white with dark rose/purple veins extending to distal portions of lip; typically flowering from Mar-Apr, towards the end of the s. FL dry season; leaves 3-13 cm long
image of plant
Show caption*© Aidan Campos
                       12 Inflorescence a strongly secund terminal panicle (a simple raceme in smaller plants), often curved upward apically; flowers yellow-pale green; typically flowering from Aug-Dec., towards the end of the wet season and beginning of the s. FL dry season; leaves 3.5-20 cm long
                   10 Pseudobulbs conspicuous or prominent, strongly to slightly compressed; ovoid, sub-orbicular, ellipsoid, or fusiform (bilaterally flattened).
image of plant
Show caption*© Scott Ward
                          13 Pseudobulbs (on mature plants) > 30 (-50) cm long
image of plant
Show caption*© Scott Ward
                          13 Pseudobulbs (on mature plants) < 30 cm long (typically < 15 cm long).
image of plant
Show caption*© Scott Ward
                            14 Inflorescence terminal (arising from the apex of the pseudobulb).
image of plant
Show caption*© Alan Cressler: Encyclia boothiana var. erythronioides, Lard Can, Hells Bay Canoe Trail, Everglades National Park, Miami-Dade County, Florida 1 by Alan Cressler
                              15 Capsules prominently 3-winged
                              15 Capsules not prominently 3-winged.
                                16 Pseudobulbs ovoid-pyriform; 1-3 linear-lanceolate leaves per stem
                                16 Pseudobulbs ovoid; 1 (rarely 2) oblong-ovate leaf per stem
                            14 Inflorescence basal (arising from the base of the pseudobulb).
                                  17 Inflorescence a spike with 12-28 sessile flowers
                                  17 Inflorescence a raceme or panicle, not a spike (flowers pedicellate).
                                    18 Inflorescence < 50 cm in length.
                                       19 Pseudobulb completely enveloped by 6-7 conduplicate distichous leaf sheaths; flowers borne singly on short pedicels arising from leaf axil, without brown blotches; flowers self-pollinating
                                       19 Pseudobulb not enveloped by leaves; pedicels originating from inflorescence; flowers yellow to white, with or without brownish blotches, not self-pollinating.
                                         20 Plants conspicuously rhizomatous; inflorescence < 1 cm long; pseudobulbs cylindric to ovoid
                                         20 Plants not rhizomatous; inflorescence > 1 cm in length; pseudobulbs cylindric or elliptic.
                                           21 Perianth segments long caudate; sepals 3-20 cm long
                                           21 Perianth segments not long caudate (instead, oblong-elliptic); sepals 2.2-12 cm long.
                                             22 Perianth segments white to cream-yellow colored with maroon stripes; pollinia not borne on long slender stipe
                                             22 Perianth segments cream colored to pale orange with condensed red-purple spots; pollinia borne on a long slender stipe

Key to terrestrial orchids: Key to Orchidaceae

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1 Leaves absent at flowering, or with a solitary leaf with a purplish undersurface withering at about the time of flowering.
image of plant
Show caption*© Richard & Teresa Ware
  2 Flowers with a spur.
    3 Spur shortly obtuse, lip partially tubular; [s. FL]
image of plant
Show caption*© Richard & Teresa Ware
    3 Spur long and slender, lip not partially tubular; widespread in our region, south in FL to ne. FL]
image of plant
Show caption*© Alan M. Cressler
image of plant
Show caption*© Richard & Teresa Ware
  2 Flowers without a spur.
      4 Flowers white, the lip, sepals, and petals all predominantly white.
        5 Lip white with a single central green stripe; leaves often fugacious
        5 Lip white, centrally yellow to greenish-white, occasionally with multiple green veins (as in S. praecox and S. sylvatica); leaves present, absent, or withering (fugacious) at flowering
      4 Flowers pink, greenish, yellowish, or purplish, the lip sometimes white or marked with white, the sepals and petals colored.
          6 Lip strongly bearded.
             7 Flower solitary; [Mountains of SC, NC, and VA northwards]
             7 Flowers not solitary (inflorescence a raceme); [Coastal Plain of SC southwards]
          6 Lip not bearded.
               8 Lip with 2 fleshy keels near the base; pollinia 4; plants holomycotrophic (without chlorophyll) and never with leaves
               8 Lip with 3-7 keels near the base or extending most of the length of the lip; pollinia 4 or 8; plants either holomycotrophic (without chlorophyll) and never with leaves, or with a plicate winter leaf withering shortly before flowering.
                 9 Plants with a plicate winter leaf withering shortly before flowering (the withered remnant usually detectable); veins of the petals and sepals not strikingly different in color than the intervein areas; lip with 3 ridges; pollinia 4
                 9 Plants never with leaves, holomycotrophic (without chlorophyll); veins of the petals and sepals strikingly different in color than the intervein areas; lip with 5-7 ridges; pollinia 8
1 Leaves present at flowering (Cleistesiopsis with a foliaceous bract at the summit of the stem).
                   10 Plants with evident, above-ground pseudobulbs, sometimes enclosed by sheaths.
                     11 Leaf bases tightly sheathing the stems, often petiolate.
                       12 Lip broadest near its base; inflorescence typically a spicate raceme (prematurely umbellate in M. spicata); leaves to 10 cm long
                       12 Lip broadest near its apex; inflorescence typically a more open or lax raceme; leaves to 30 cm long.
                          13 Leaves 3-7, membranaceous, plicate; anthers green
                          13 Leaves 2, thickish, conduplicate; anthers yellow
                     11 Leaf bases not conspicuously clasping the stems (or if clasping, loosely so).
                            14 Flowers predominantly yellow, pseudobulbs > 8 (-100) cm long.
image of plant
Show caption*© Roger L. Hammer
image of plant
Show caption*© Roger L. Hammer
                              15 Flowers without brown spots; pseudobulbs typically 10-30 (-100) cm long
image of plant
Show caption*© Roger L. Hammer
                              15 Flowers with brown spots; pseudobulbs typically 8-15 cm long
                            14 Flowers not predominantly yellow, pseudobulbs < 8 cm long.
image of plant
Show caption*© Aidan Campos
                                16 Leaves not plicate, with conspicuous dark green mottling
image of plant
Show caption*© Matt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Matt
                                16 Leaves plicate, without conspicuous dark green mottling.
image of plant
Show caption*© Alan M. Cressler
                                  17 Lip conspicuously bearded (or if not bearded, conspicuously keeled and with brownish-maroon veins extending to margins of lip)
                                  17 Lip not conspicuously bearded.
image of plant
Show caption*© Matt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Matt
                                    18 Perianth brown (white on lower surface); lip tubular
                                    18 Perianth pink or purple; lip not tubular.
image of plant
Show caption*© Alan Cressler: Bletia patula, near Arecibo Observatory, Municipio de Arecibo, Puerto Rico 2 by Alan Cressler
                                       19 Lip with 5-7 conspicuous yellow-white keels
image of plant
Show caption*© Alan Cressler: Spathoglottis plicata, Riviere Glace Valley, Grand Anse Department, Haiti 1 by Alan Cressler
                                       19 Lip without 5-7 conspicuous yellow-white keels
                   10 Plants without above-ground pseudobulbs (either absent or subterranean).
                                         20 Leaf solitary.
                                           21 Leaf basal.
                                             22 Flower with a spur.
                                               23 Leaf long petiolate, lanceolate-elliptic; lateral sepals conspicuously spreading with long acuminate apices; [s. FL]
                                               23 Leaf not long petiolate, orbicular; lateral sepals reflexed or slightly spreading without long acuminate apices, rather, typically blunt or rounded; [widespread; NC and TN northward]
                                             22 Flower without a spur.
                                                 24 Flower solitary
                                                 24 Flowers in a raceme or spike.
                                                    25 Flowers relatively large, primarily pink, purple, or white; flowers arranged in loosely arranged racemes
                                                      26 Lip below (resupinate); flowers white, often cleistogamous; lip white with purple margins, with keels
                                                      26 Lip above (not resupinate); flowers purple or pink (rarely white), chasmogomous; lip with yellow fringes (beard)
                                                    25 Flowers relatively small, whitish; flowers arranged in densely (and sometimes also spirally) arranged spikes.
                                                        27 Dorsal sepal connivent with petals forming hood over column; lip sagittate-auriculate
                                                        27 Dorsal sepals not forming connivent hood with petals, or if rarely so, then lip pandurate (as in S. romanzoffianum)
                                           21 Leaf cauline.
                                                          28 Flowers in spikes or racemes, 5-many, reddish, yellowish, or greenish.
                                                          28 Flower solitary (-4), pink (rarely nearly white); [subfamily Vanilloideae; tribe Pogonieae].
                                                            29 Sepals brown to purple, linear or narrowly oblanceolate, 3-6.5 cm long, about 5 mm wide; leaf coriaceous
                                                            29 Sepals pink (rarely white), elliptic or oblanceolate, 1.3-2.7 cm long, 3-11 mm wide; leaf herbaceous
                                         20 Leaves 2-many.
                                                              30 Lip inflated, pouch-like or slipper-like, 2-6 cm long
                                                              30 Lip not inflated, or if so, then 0.3-1.1 cm long.
                                                                 31 Leaves cauline.
                                                                   32 Leaves plicate; lip saccate or arcuate
                                                                     33 Lip arcuate, with purple-brown marginal speckles; leaf sheaths inflated-tubular
                                                                     33 Lip saccate, without purple-brown marginal spots; leaf sheaths tight and not inflated-tubular.
                                                                       34 Leaves typically many (3-14); 4-20 cm long; lip variously colored without conspicuous yellow disc; [widespread]
                                                                       34 Leaves typically fewer (2-5); 4-4.5 cm long; lip primarily white with conspicuous yellow disc; [s. FL]
                                                                   32 Leaves smooth, often creased at the midrib, but not plicate; lip not saccate.
                                                                         35 Leaves whorled, terminating the stem; [subfamily Vanilloideae; tribe Pogonieae]
                                                                         35 Leaves alternate or opposite, not terminating the stem.
                                                                           36 Leaves 2, opposite, near the middle of the stem
                                                                           36 Leaves (2-) 3-many, alternate, variously distributed on the stem.
                                                                              37 Plant with aerial roots throughout stem; lip orange-red, deeply 3 to 4 lobed and marginally fimbriate; [subfamily Epidendroideae]
                                                                              37 Plant without aerial roots throughout stem; lip variously colored, if orange then not deeply 3 to 4 lobed.
                                                                                38 Lip without a spur; leaves 0.8-8.0 cm long.
                                                                                  39 Distal portion of lip not uniformly yellow; leaves ovate, 0.4-2.0 cm long
                                                                                  39 Distal portion of lip uniformly yellow; leaves linear or narrowly lanceolate, 1-8 cm long
                                                                                38 Lip with a spur; leaves linear, lanceolate, or narrowly elliptic, 5-40 cm long (at least the larger > 5 cm long, except in Aspidogyne, with lanceolate to ovate leaves 1.5-6.5 cm long).
                                                                                    40 Leaves 1.5-6.5 cm long, with inflated tubular sheaths; plants from creeping rhizomes
                                                                                    40 Leaves 5-40 cm long, sessile; plants from fleshy or fusiform roots.
                                                                                      41 Lip divided into 3 linear divisions, the divisions not further divided, fringed, or eroded
                                                                                      41 Lip not divided into 3 divisions, or divided into 3 divisions but the divisions not linear.
                                                                                        42 Spur saccate, 2-3 mm long, the orifice minute
                                                                                        42 Spur elongate and slender, 4-50 mm long, the orifice larger
                                                                 31 Leaves basal (sometimes with bladeless sheaths upward on the stem).
                                                                                           43 Leaves plicate.
                                                                                             44 Lip oriented upward (not resupinate); flowers pink to white
                                                                                             44 Lip oriented downward (resupinate); flowers greenish, purplish-brown, maroon or yellowish.
                                                                                               45 Sepals ascending or apically reflexed, not converging
                                                                                               45 Sepals converging, not ascending or reflexed
                                                                                           43 Leaves smooth, often creased at the midrib, but not plicate.
                                                                                                 46 Lip with a spur.
                                                                                                   47 Leaves long petiolate, not basally sheathing stems; sepals longer (to 30 mm), narrowly lanceolate
                                                                                                   47 Leaves not long petiolate, basally sheathing stems; sepals shorter, variously shaped
                                                                                                     48 Flowers bicolored, the lip white, the sepals and petals pink; leaves 2
                                                                                                     48 Flowers not bicolored, the lip, petals, and sepals similarly colored; leaves 2-5
                                                                                                        49 Lip deeply divided into 3 linear segments; leaves 3-5
                                                                                                        49 Lip entire; leaves 2
                                                                                                 46 Lip without a spur.
                                                                                                          50 Leaf blade or leaves ascending.
                                                                                                            51 Inflorescence a raceme; lip with pink-purple coloration along margin; flowers larger, not tightly spiraling
                                                                                                            51 Inflorescence a spike; lip without pink/purple coloration along margin; flowers smaller, often spiraling or tightly assembled
                                                                                                          50 Leaf blades more-or-less horizontally oriented, flat against the ground or 1-2 cm above it.
                                                                                                              52 Flowers orange-red (except rarely light green as in S. lanceolata forma albidaviridis)
                                                                                                              52 Flowers never strongly orange-red, instead white, yellowish, greenish, or brown (including coppery).
                                                                                                                53 Lip oriented upward (flowers not resupinate).
                                                                                                                  54 Lip with green spots
                                                                                                                  54 Lip without green spots (sometimes with green coloration but not green-spotted).
                                                                                                                     55 Large flowers distinctly pedicellate on racemes; lip short-caudate, 4.5-7 mm long; petals obliquely triangular
                                                                                                                     55 Minute flowers sessile on spikes; lip apiculate, 1-2 mm long; petals narrowly obovate
                                                                                                                53 Lip oriented downward (flowers resupinate).
                                                                                                                       56 Leaves with prominent white or pale green variegation on midrib and/or veins; [subtribe Goodyerinae]
                                                                                                                       56 Leaves without prominent variegation; [subtribe Spiranthinae].
                                                                                                                         57 Flowers brown or copper colored
                                                                                                                         57 Flowers white or green colored.
                                                                                                                           58 Lip and perianth segments each with a single central green stripe; leaves more or less fugacious
                                                                                                                           58 Lip and perianth without a central green stripe; occasionally with multiple green veins on the lip; leaf often persistent.
                                                                                                                             59 Flowers white, often also marked or veined with yellow or green; [widespread in our region]
                                                                                                                             59 Flowers green, greenish-yellow, or bronze; [FL southwards]
                                                                                                                               60 Lip canaliculate (grooved longitudinally), without conspicuous yellow throat; flowers greenish-brown or coppery
                                                                                                                               60 Lip not grooved longitudinally, with conspicuous yellow throat; flowers greenish-white
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