''Thecostele'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus of orchids (family

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family (biology), family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan plants that ...

) and of subtribe

Cymbidiinae Cymbidiinae is an orchid subtribe in the tribe Cymbidieae. The subtribe is named after the genus ''Cymbidium'', the boat orchids. It also contains the largest known species of orchids, ''Grammatophyllum speciosum''. See also * Taxonomy of the ...

Taxonomy

The only species in the genus is ''Thecostele alata'', first described as ''Cymbidium alatum'' by the Scottish botanist

William Roxburgh William Roxburgh FRSE FRCPE Linnean Society of London, FLS (3/29 June 1751 – 18 February 1815) was a Scottish people, Scottish surgeon and botanist who worked extensively in India, describing species and working on economic botany. He is known ...

in 1832. It was transferred to the genus ''Thecostele'' in 1874 by the English botanist Charles Samuel Pollock Parish and the German botanist

Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach (Dresden, 3 January 1823 – Hamburg, 6 May 1889) was a botanist and the foremost Germany, German orchidologist of the 19th century. His father Ludwig Reichenbach, Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (author of ''Ico ...

. It is native to tropical

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and is found in northeastern

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 ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

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 ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

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 ...

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, ...

, and 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 ...

. Two species formerly recognized in this genus (''T. secunda'' and ''T. maingayi'') were transferred to the new genus '' Thecopus'' by the Danish botanist

Gunnar Seidenfaden Gunnar Seidenfaden (1908 – 9 February 2001) was a Denmark, Danish diplomat and botanist. He was Denmark, Danish ambassador in Thailand 1955–1959, and in the U.S.S.R. 1959–1961. He was an expert on Southeast Asia Orchidaceae. He published sev ...

in 1983, a decision supported by the number of

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 ...

and shape of 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 ...

References

External links

* * Orchids of Asia Cymbidieae genera Cymbidiinae Monotypic Epidendroideae genera {{Cymbidieae-stub