''Lepanthes'' (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 ...
"scaled-flower") is a large
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
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 with about 800–1000
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
, distributed in the
Antilles
The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east.
The Antillean islands are divided into two smaller groupings: the Greater An ...
and from
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 ...
through
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
(with very few species in
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
).
[Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families](_blank)
/ref> The genus is abbreviated in horticultural trade as Lths. Almost all the species in the genus are small and live in cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...
s. Babyboot orchid is a common name.
See also
*'' Draconanthes''
* List of ''Lepanthes'' species
*List of the largest genera of flowering plants
There are over 56 genus, genera of flowering plants estimated to contain at least 500 species description, described species. The largest of these is currently the Fabaceae, legume genus ''Astragalus (plant), Astragalus'' (milk-vetches), with ove ...
References
* (1799) Nova Acta Regiae Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis 6: 85, f. 6.
* (2006) Epidendroideae (Part One). Genera Orchidacearum 4: 362 ff. Oxford University Press.
* (2009) Icones Pleurothallidinarum XXX. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 115: 1–265.
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
Pleurothallidinae genera
Taxa named by Olof Swartz