Calanthe

Arethuseae subtribe Bletiinae

From the Greek kalos, meaning beautiful, and anthe, meaning bloom, referring to the pretty flowers of the genus.

A pantropical genus of 150 species with its greatest diversity in Africa and Asia. Only two species occur in the Neotropics.

1 Leaves deciduous; pseudobulbs conspicuous. 2 1' Leaves evergreen; pseudobulbs usually obscure or absent. 6 2(1) Lip unlobed. 3 2' Lip three-lobed. 4 3(2) Lip with three basal callus keels; the spur more than twice the length of the dorsal sepal. C. labrosa 3' Lip without callus; the spir shorter than the dorsal sepal. C. rosea 4(2') Lip tubular at the base, the limb boldly marked with purple stripes and bars. C. cardioglossa 4' Lip flat, the limb unmarked except somewtimes with a darker throat. 5 5(4') Sepals and petals pink. C. rubens 5' Sepals and petals white. C. vestita 6(1') Leaves striped with silver. C. argenteo-striata 6' Leaves solid green. 7 7(6') Sepals and petals yellow, green, or yellowish-green. . 7' Sepals and petals white, pink, or purple. 15 8(7) Sepals and petals yellowish-green, lip red. 9 8' Flowers otherwise colored. 10 9(8) Lip with a short spur to 0.1 in. (0.2 cm) long; callus of three low keels. C. brevicornu 9' Lip without a spur; callus of 3--5 high undulate keels. C. tricarinata 10(8') Callus warty or absent. 11 10' Callus a series of longitudinal, parallel keels. 13 11(10) Sepals yellow, lip without callus. C. lyroglossa 11' Sepals green. lip with callus. 12 12(11') Lip to 0.7 in. (1.8 cm) long; midlobe with entire margins; spur to 1.2 in. (3 cm) long. C. herbacea 12' Lip to 0.4 in. (1.1 cm) long; midlobe with finely toothed margins; spur to 0.4 in. (0.9 cm) long. . 13(10') Lip with five callus keels. C. sieboldii 13' Lip with 2--3 keels. 14 14(13') Lip with two keels; flowers horizontal. C. densiflora 14' Lip with three keels that rise to form three conspicuous teeth; flowers nodding by a sharp bend in the ovary. C. graciliflora 15(7') Lip unlobed, the margins fimbriate. C. alpina 15' Lip three-lobed, the margins entire or minutely toothed, never fringed. 16 16(15') Lateral lobes of the lip small to minute, less than half the size of the midlobe or lobules of the midlobe; the callus warty. 17 16' Lateral lobes of the lip conspicuous, subsimilar to the lobules of the midlobe; the callus warty, keeled, or absent. 19 17(16) Flowers white; the lip concave. C. zollingeri 17' Flowers pink to purple; the lip flat. 18 18(17') Leaves downy-pubescent on both surfaces. C. purpurea 18' Leaves glabrous on the upper surface or on both surfaces. C. sylvatica 19(16') Midlobe of the lip with entire margins. 20 19' Midlobe of the lip finely toothed, scalloped, or undulate. 22 20(19) Callus of three keels. C. discolor 20' Callus warty. 21 21(20') Each lobules of the midlobe obovate, overlapping along their inner margins. C. alismaefolia 21' Lobules of the midlobe oblong, divergent, never overlapping along their inner margins. C. triplicata 22(19') Spur absent. 23 22' Spur present. 24 23(22) Callus of two ridges; lip acute-acuminate; flowers flat to lightly cupped. C. puberula 23' Callus absent; lip obtuse with a minute triangular apex; the sepals and petals reflexed. C. reflexa 24(22') Ovary curved downward; lobules of the lip midlobe subsimilar to the lateral lobes, divergent, never overlapping. C. ceciliae 24' Ovary straight; lobules of the lip midlobe much wider than the lateral lobes, overlapping along their inner margins. C. crenulata

Barghava, N. 1978. On the natural blooming of Calanthe triplicata (Will.) Ames in Little Andaman Island (India). Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 47(11):1011-1015; Braem, G. J. 1991. The genus Calanthe. Schlechteriana 3/91:118-122; Chan, C. L. and T. J. Barkman 1997. A new species of Calanthe (Orchidaceae: Epidendroideae: Arethuseae) from Mount Kinabalu, Sabah. Sandakania 9:27-34; Comber, J. B. 1981. The genus Calanthe in Java. Orchid Digest 45:124-130; Comber, J. B. 1989. More Calanthe species of Malaysia to New Guinea. Orchid Digest 53:68-70; Cribb, P.J. and S. Thomas 1993. The genus Calanthe in Tropical America. Orquidea (Mex.) 13(1-2):227-232; Ghose, B. N. 1960. Orchids of India: Calanthe herbacea. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 29(4):277-278; Gruss, O. 2000. Calanthe madagascariensis. Die Orchidee 51(2):[097]-[098]; Karasawa, K. and G. Ishida 1980. Histological observations on the pollination of Calanthe lyroglossa Reichb.f. Bull. Hiroshima Bot. Garden 3:75-78; Karasawa, K., G. Ishida and M. Isobe 1986. Cytogenetic studies in the interspecific hybrid Calanthe reflexa x C. masuca. Bull. Hiroshima Bot. Gard. 8:43-54; O’Byrne, P. 1997. Calanthe lyroglossa var. longibracteata, a new orchid from Java. Malayan Orch. Rev. 31:29-31; Panigrahi, G. 1966. Systematic studies in the family Orchidaceae in eastern India, I. Aerides Lour. and Calanthe R. Br. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., India, sect. B, 36(2):124-134; Perner, H. 1999. Calanthe tricarinata Lindl. 1833. Die Orchidee 50(5): Orchideenkartei Seite 905-906; Robbins, S. 1991. An unusual Calanthe from Yunnan. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 60(3):234-235; Seidenfaden, G. 1975. Orchid genera in Thailand. I. Calanthe R. Br. Dansk Bot. Ark. 29:1-50; Sheehan, T. and M. Sheehan 1975. Orchid Genera Illustrated, XLVII: Calanthe. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 44(12):1084-1085; Singh, F. 1979. Calanthe masuca. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 48(6):586-588; Tahara, M. 1997. Calanthen in Japan. Die Orchidee 48(6):248-254; Tanaka, R., K. Karasawa and G. Ishida 1981. Karyomorphological observations on Calanthe of Japan. Bull. Hiroshima Bot. Gard. 4:9-62; Tang, C. Z. and S. J. Cheng 1986. A new orchid from South China, Calanthe argenteo-striata. Orchid Digest 49:227-229; Teuscher, H. 1978. Collector’s Item: Calanthe and Spathoglottis. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 47(4):336-343.