Family: Orchidaceae
Group: Monocot
Substrate:
Terrestrial
Habit:
Herb
Perennation:
Perennial
Native Range: South Florida and the West Indies (Bahamas, Greater Antilles). In the Greater Antilles, known from Cuba, Hispaniola and the island of
Puerto Rico.
Map of select IRC data for peninsular Florida
NatureServe Global Status:
Imperiled
State of Florida Status:
Endangered
Florida Natural Areas Inventory State Status:
Critically Imperiled
IRC SOUTH FLORIDA Status:
Critically Imperiled
SOUTH FLORIDA Occurrence:
Present
SOUTH FLORIDA Native Status:
Native
South Florida History and Distribution: A rare terrestrial orchid in southeastern Florida in Miami-Dade County and the Monroe County Keys. It was first collected in 1903 by John Kunkel Small, Alvah A. Eaton, and Joel J. Carter at Long Prairie in Miami-Dade County (Gann et al. 2002). Although known from a variety of habitats throughout its natural range, in South Florida it has only been documented in pine rocklands, although some of these locations have been disturbed or fire-suppressed. In South Florida the flowers are normally closed, unlike the plants displayed in most of the images here. See also, IRC’s book
Rare Plants of South Florida (Gann et al. 2002, page 367) and IRC's report
Vascular plant species of management concern in Everglades National Park (Gann 2015, page 79).
Ranked as critically imperiled in Rare Plants of South Florida (
Gann et al. 2002; pp 367-369) based on four occurrences in three protected areas (Deering Estate at Cutler; Everglades National Park; National Key Deer Refuge), and one non-protected area (Naranja School Board Pineland). This has not been recently documented in the Florida Keys, and searches should be conducted.
SOUTH FLORIDA Cultivated Status:
Cultivated
Comments: See also the North American Orchid Conservation Center's
Go Orchids website and Florida Natural Areas Inventory's
Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Florida page (Chafin 2000).
