Piperia
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 Piperia yadonii. Photo credit: John Game
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Piperia is a genus of the orchid family Orchidaceae. This genus has the following characteristics: (a) a bisexual perennial nongreen plant that grows from buried tubers; fruit capsule bearing numerous minute seeds; (c) pollen that is sticky, and which is removed as sessile anther sacs; and (d) stigma fused with its style into a column. There are a total of eight species in the genus Piperia, which is named for American botanist Charles V. Piper. The genus members manifest generally cylindrical spikes or racemes.
The subsurface architecture of these terrestrial wild orchids consists of a rhizome structure, from which emanate tubers. The rhizome extracts nutrients from fungal intermediates and may also store some of these nutrients. A basal rosette of leaves develops from the tuber at the surface of the soil, each of the two or three leaves being lanceolate in shape.[1] Each leaf ranges from 10 to 15 centimeters in length and 20 to 35 millimeters in width. Leaves of younger plants are often more diminutive in size.
Piperia yadonii exhibits a single veined flower one to two millimeters in width and a basal rosette leaf formation.
Selected species:
[edit] References
- ^ Morgan & Ackerman, Lindleyana 5:205–211 (1990)
