:''Encyclia'' is also a Greek term for the

Codex Encyclius Collections of ancient canons contain collected bodies of canon law (Catholic Church), canon law that originated in various documents, such as papal and synodal decisions, and that can be designated by the generic term of canons. Canon law was n ...

''Encyclia'' 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 ...

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. The genus name comes from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''enkykleomai'' ("to encircle"), referring to the lateral lobes of the lip which encircle the column. It is abbreviated as ''E.'' in the horticultural trade.Alphabetical List of Standard Abbreviations for Natural and Hybrid Generic Names, Royal Horticultural Society, 2017. https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/plant-registration-forms/orchid-name-abbreviations-list.pdf

Biology

The

epiphytic An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

genus ''Encyclia'' occurs in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and other regions of the tropical Americas. It grows in lowland forests at altitudes up to 1000 meters. The distribution of the species is more or less evenly spread throughout this area. Most of these species are found in seasonally dry forests where the humidity tends to remain high throughout the year, though precipitation is infrequent, sometimes lacking for months. They are most common in dry

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

forests. Most species have stiff, drought-resistant leaves and large onion-shaped

pseudobulb In botany, a pseudobulb is a storage organ found in many epiphytic and terrestrial sympodial orchids. It is derived from a thickening of the part of a stem between leaf nodes and may be composed of just one internode or several, termed ''heter ...

s.Dressler, R. L. ''The Orchids, Natural History and Classification''. The flowers arise from an apical inflorescence. This genus is

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or butterflies; bird ...

by bees and birds. There are normally eight

pollinia A pollinium (: pollinia) is a coherent mass of pollen grains in a plant that are the product of only one anther, but are transferred, during pollination, as a single unit. This is regularly seen in plants such as orchids and many species of milkwee ...

, but in some subgroups this is reduced to four. One species, '' Encyclia cyperifolia'', produces cylindrical, terete leaves.''Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids''.

Cultivation

Many species in this genus are cultivated as

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

s. The flowers may last over a month. They are easily overwatered and require only a periodic misting during the winter. Some species are fragrant; ''

Encyclia fragrans :''Encyclia'' is also a Greek term for the Codex Encyclius ''Encyclia'' is a genus of orchids. The genus name comes from Greek ''enkykleomai'' ("to encircle"), referring to the lateral lobes of the lip which encircle the column. It is abbreviate ...

'' produces vanilla-scented flowers. The plants have continuously growing rhizomes that eventually create a large mass. In the wild the plants shed the older pseudobulbs. In cultivation they may fail to split, so growers will divide them by hand to prevent the plants from forming unwieldy mounds. An exception is ''

Encyclia tampensis ''Encyclia tampensis'' (Encyclia from Greek - enkykleoma "to encircle" and tampensis - "Tampa") or Tampa butterfly orchid is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family, subfamily Epidendroideae. It has been placed in ''Encyclia'' ...

'', which does well in a mounded form and does not need to be divided.

Taxonomy

Cladistic research has shown that ''Encyclia'' ''sensu stricto'' is

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

. This genus was originally included in ''

Epidendrum ''Epidendrum'' , abbreviated Epi in the horticultural trade, is a large neotropical genus of the orchid family. With more than 1,500 species, some authors describe it as a mega-genus. The genus name (from Greek language, Greek ''επί, epi'' an ...

'' until

William Jackson Hooker Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botany, botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew Gardens, Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botan ...

separated it in 1828. The genera ''

Euchile ''Prosthechea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family (Orchidaceae). The name is derived from the Greek word ''prostheke'' (appendix), referring to the appendage on the back of the column (botany), column. Appendage orchid is a commo ...

'', ''

Prosthechea ''Prosthechea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family (Orchidaceae). The name is derived from the Greek word ''prostheke'' (appendix), referring to the appendage on the back of the column (botany), column. Appendage orchid is a commo ...

'' and ''

Dinema ''Dinema'' is the genus name of: * ''Dinema'' (plant), a genus of orchids. * ''Dinema'' (alga), a genus of euglenids. {{Genus disambiguation ...

'' were separated from ''Encyclia'' based on morphological analysis.Higgins, W. E. (1997). A combined molecular phylogeny of ''Encyclia'' (Orchidaceae) and relationships within Laeliinae. ''Selbyana'' 24(2) 165–79. ''Sulpitia''

Raf. Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; 22 October 178318 September 1840) was a French early 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ult ...

is a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

of ''Encyclia''. ''Encyclia'' can hybridize with related genera. ''E. tampensis'' is often bred for its attractive hybrids.

Species

See List of ''Encyclia'' species. Unplaced species include ''Encyclia amicta'', syn. ''

Epidendrum amictum ''Epidendrum amictum'' Linden & Rchb.f., synonym ''Encyclia amicta'' (Linden & Rchb.f.) Schltr., is an "unplaced" species of orchid according to Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database publ ...

''.

References

External links