Orchidaceae

Sacoila Raf.

First published in Fl. Tellur. 2: 86 (1837)
This genus is accepted
The native range of this genus is Florida, Mexico to Tropical America.

Descriptions

George R. Proctor (2012). Flora of the Cayman Isands (Second Edition). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Morphology General Habit
Terrestrial herbs with fleshy, tuberous, fasciculate roots
Morphology Stem
Stems erect
Morphology Leaves
Leaves green to pale green, glossy, several, basal, senescent or absent at anthesis, subsessile, cuneate, lanceolate- elliptical to oblanceolate
Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences
Inflorescences scapose, pubescent racemes with numerous flowers; floral bracts green to red, glabrous to pubescent, lanceolate, attenuate
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Flowers variously colored, odorless, pubescent, tubular; sepals free, erect, subsimilar, connivent, externally pubescent, dorsal sepal concave, lanceolate, lateral sepals connate at base, decurrent on column foot forming a mentum or spur-like extension, slightly spreading above the middle, obliquely lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate; petals adnate to the dorsal sepal, falcate, oblong; lip sessile or indistinctly clawed, united at base to the lateral sepals in the spur, basally canaliculate with linear, marginal or submarginal nectar glands, margins at middle adnate to column, slightly arcuate, upper half triangular-lanceolate to ovate, decurved or deflexed
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Column
Column short, stout with a long, column foot decurrent on sides of ovary and protruding below to a free tip
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens Anthers
Anther ovate, acute to acuminate, filament adnate to column, pollinia white, narrowly clavate with a sheathing, linear viscidium
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Stigma
Stigmas 2, terminal, confluent, oriented at an oblique plane toward apex of column with its lower border prominent in side view, rostellum remnant rigid, linear- acicular. Capsules ellipsoid.
Distribution
A neotropical genus of 7–10 species of Florida, West Indies, Mexico, Central and S. America. Sacoila is one of those genera of the Spiranthinae that has appeared and disappeared from synonymies a number of times.
[Cayman]

Sources

  • Flora of the Cayman Islands

    • Flora of the Cayman Islands
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • World Checklist of Vascular plants (WCVP)

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2024. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0