Psychopsis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the genus of net-winged insects, see Psychopsis (insect).

Psychopsis

Psychopsis papilio
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Orchidaceae
Subfamily:	Epidendroideae
Tribe:	Cymbidieae
Subtribe:	Oncidiinae
Alliance:	Trichophilia
Genus:	Psychopsis Raf.
Species
4, see text

Psychopsis, abbreviated Psychp in horticultural trade, is a genus of only four species of orchids distributed from the West Indies and Costa Rica to Peru, where it grows on the trunks and branches of trees. It used to be contained in the massively paraphyletic "wastebin genus" Oncidium. The monotypic Psychopsiella is closely related to and sometimes merged with Psychopsis.

The genus as a whole is commonly called butterfly orchids, but some species of other orchid genera are also called thus. The Psychopsis flower looks like a large butterfly with a brightly colored body (the lip, a modified petal), very long antennae-like petals, and outspread wing-like dappled yellow and brown sepals. The butterfly orchid is rumored to have started the European "Orchidmania" of the 19th century.

In the narrow sense, Psychopsis consists of 4 species:

Psychopsis krameriana
Psychopsis papilio
Psychopsis sanderae
Psychopsis versteegiana

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Psychopsis.

Wikispecies has information related to: Psychopsis

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.