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

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

s in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Orchidaceae. They are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. 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 o ...

plants which grow in clumps and have thin roots, leafy stems,

pleated A pleat (plait in older English) is a type of fold formed by doubling fabric back upon itself and securing it in place. It is commonly used in clothing and upholstery to gather a wide piece of fabric to a narrower circumference. Pleats are cat ...

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 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s and

petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

s. They are widely distributed in the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

Description

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

herbs Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnish (food), garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typi ...

which often grow in clumps and have short

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

s 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 a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, fl ...

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, Saint-Martin-de-la-Place, Bournois – 12 May 1831, Paris) was a French botanist known for his work collecting and describing orchids from the three islands of Madagascar, Mauritius and R� ...

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 classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

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. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, including on

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an States and territories of Australia#External territories, Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is about south o ...

. 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) was an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected p ...

'' as at August 2018: * ''

Corymborkis corymbis ''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 stem ...

'' Thouars - Africa from Guinea to Ethiopia to South Africa; Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion * ''

Corymborkis flava ''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 stem ...

'' (Sw.) Kuntze - South America, Central America, Cuba, Jamaica * '' Corymborkis forcipigera'' (Rchb.f. & Warsz.) L.O.Williams - Mexico, Central America, West Indies, Colombia * '' Corymborkis galipanensis'' (Rchb.f.) Foldats - Venezuela * ''

Corymborkis guyanensis ''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 stem ...

'' Szlach. S.Nowak & Baranow - Guyana * '' Corymborkis harlingii'' Szlach. & Kolan - Colombia to Ecuador * '' Corymborkis minima'' 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 wit ...

'' (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