Calyptrochilum is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family Orchidaceae[2] native to tropical Africa, with one species extending into Brazil.[3]

Calyptrochilum
Calyptrochilum christyanum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Tribe: Vandeae
Subtribe: Angraecinae
Genus: Calyptrochilum
Kraenzl.
Type species
Calyptrochilum emarginatum
(Afzel. ex Sw.) Schltr.
Synonyms[1]
  • Ossiculum P.J.Cribb & Laan

Three species are recognized as of 2020:[3]

Taxonomy and naming

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Calyptrochilum aurantiacum, a critically endangered species.

Calyptrochilum historically contained two species, C. christyanum and C. emarginatum. In 2018, the monotypic genus Ossiculum was moved into Calyptrochilum. The sole Ossiculum species was Ossiculum aurantiacum; it is endemic to Cameroon and is classified as Critically Endangered due to habitat loss.[4]

The original describers of Ossiculum, P.J.Cribb & Laan, noted that the genus closely resembled Calyptrochilum in terms of floral morphology. In 1986, Gasson and Cribb (1986) found the leaf structure of Ossiculum and Calyptrochilum to possess shared characteristics that did not belong to other genera in the Angraecinae. These findings were confirmed in 2006 by Carlsward et al., but O. aurantiacum remained separate from Calyptrochilum because of several of its own distinctive features, among them its bright golden flowers. Finally, in 2018, Stévart, M.Simo & Droissart combined the previous morphological and cytological data with genomic information, cementing the position of the former monotypic genus within Calyptrochilum.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Calyptrochilum". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. ^ Kraenzlin, Friedrich (Fritz) Wilhelm Ludwig. 1895. Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 22: 30
  3. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  4. ^ Pollard, B.J. & Darbyshire, I. 2004. Ossiculum aurantiacum. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 23 August 2007.
  5. ^ Simo-Droissart, Murielle & Stévart, Tariq. "New taxonomic and conservation status of Ossiculum (Vandeae, Orchidaceae), a highly threatened and narrow-endemic angraecoid orchid from Central Africa." PhytoKeys 98: 89 (2018).

Sources

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  • Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P.J., Chase, M.A. & Rasmussen, F. eds. (1999). Genera Orchidacearum 1. Oxford Univ. Press.
  • Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P.J., Chase, M.A. & Rasmussen, F. eds. (2001). Genera Orchidacearum 2. Oxford Univ. Press.
  • Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P.J., Chase, M.A. & Rasmussen, F. eds. (2003). Genera Orchidacearum 3. Oxford Univ. Press
  • Berg Pana, H. 2005. Handbuch der Orchideen-Namen. Dictionary of Orchid Names. Dizionario dei nomi delle orchidee. Ulmer, Stuttgart