Calypso

Salisbury

Parad. Lond., plate 89. 1807.

Common names: Calypso fairy-slipper
Etymology: Greek kalypso, a figure in Homer’s Odyssey
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 26. Treatment on page 622. Mentioned on page 494.
Revision as of 19:30, 24 September 2019 by FNA>Volume Importer

Herbs, perennial, rather succulent. Roots few, slender, fleshy. Stems scapose; corm slender to stout, fleshy; sheathing bracts usually 2, partially cloaking stem. Leaves produced in autumn, withering spring, solitary, arising from corm, plicate, leathery. Inflorescences terminal, each with 1 flower, arising from corm; floral bract with color of stem or sepals, reduced to prominent. Flowers solitary, resupinate, horizontal to slightly nodding, large, showy; sepals and petals ascending to erect; lip slipper-shaped, with basal orifice and 2 horns near apex, margin of lip dilated, forming bearded, apronlike lamina; pollinarium solitary; pollinia 4, flattened, superposed in 2 pairs flanking axis of pollinarium; viscidia large, quadrangular; stigma concave. Fruits capsules.

Distribution

Circumboreal.

Discussion

Species 1.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa