''Corymborkis'', commonly known as cinnamon orchids, or 管花兰属 (guan hua lan shu) is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of eight species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Orchidaceae. They are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

plants which grow in clumps and have thin roots, leafy stems, pleated leaves and widely-opening flowers with thin, spreading

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined ...

s and

petal Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corolla''. Petals are usuall ...

s. They are widely distributed in the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred ...

Description

Orchids in the genus ''Corymborkis'' are terrestrial, evergreen

herbs In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicina ...

which often grow in clumps and have short rhizomes and thin, wiry stems. One or more thin, unbranched stems arise from the same rhizome and have many papery, pleated, egg-shaped to elliptic leaves near their top half. A branching flowering stem develops from the upper leaf

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ...

s and carry crowded, widely-opening flowers. The flowers are greenish white and usually have thin, spreading sepals and petals which are similar to each other, with the petals slightly wider than the sepals. The labellum is about as long as the sepals, closely surrounds the

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

and has a tube-like base and two longitudinal ridges.

Taxonomy and naming

The genus ''Corymborkis'' was first formally described in 1809 by

Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars Louis-Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars (5 November 1758, Bournois – 12 May 1831, Paris) was an eminent French botanist known for his work collecting and describing orchids from the three islands of Madagascar, Mauritius and Réunion. Intro ...

and the description was published in ''Bulletin de la Société philomathique de Paris''. The name ''Corymborkis'' is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

words ''korymbos'' meaning "bunch of flowers or fruit" and ''orchis'' meaning "testicle" or "orchid", referring to the bunched flowers of these orchids.

Distribution and habitat

Orchids in this genus are found in tropical

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

and Australia, including on

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

. They usually grow in moist, shady places in rainforest.

List of species

The following is a list of species of ''Corymborkis'' recognised by the ''

World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected pl ...

'' as at August 2018: * '' Corymborkis corymbis'' Thouars - Africa from Guinea to Ethiopia to South Africa; Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion * '' Corymborkis flava'' (Sw.) Kuntze - South America, Central America, Cuba, Jamaica * '' Corymborkis forcipigera'' (Rchb.f. & Warsz.) L.O.Williams - Mexico, Central America, West Indies, Colombia * ''

Corymborkis galipanensis ''Corymborkis'', commonly known as cinnamon orchids, or 管花兰属 (guan hua lan shu) is a genus of eight species of orchids in the family Orchidaceae. They are evergreen, terrestrial plants which grow in clumps and have thin roots, leafy ...

'' (Rchb.f.) Foldats - Venezuela * '' Corymborkis guyanensis'' Szlach. S.Nowak & Baranow - Guyana * '' Corymborkis harlingii'' Szlach. & Kolan - Colombia to Ecuador * ''

Corymborkis minima ''Corymborkis'', commonly known as cinnamon orchids, or 管花兰属 (guan hua lan shu) is a genus of eight species of orchids in the family Orchidaceae. They are evergreen, terrestrial plants which grow in clumps and have thin roots, leafy ...

'' P.J.Cribb - Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea * ''

Corymborkis veratrifolia ''Corymborkis veratrifolia'', commonly known as the white cinnamon orchid is a plant in the orchid family and is native to areas from tropical and subtropical Asia to Australia and the Pacific Islands. It is an evergreen, terrestrial orchid with ...

'' (Reinw.) Blume - China, Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Queensland, Pacific Islands

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q133281 Tropidieae genera Terrestrial orchids Orchids of Africa Orchids of Asia Orchids of Oceania