Ponthieva

Taxobox
name = Shadow Witch

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = Hairy Shadow With ("Ponthieva racemosa")
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Liliopsida
ordo = Asparagales
familia = Orchidaceae
subfamilia = Orchidoideae
tribus = Cranichideae
subtribus = Cranichidinae
genus = "Ponthieva"
genus_authority = R.Br. in W.T.Aiton (1813)
type_species = "Neottia glandulosa" (now synonym of "Ponthieva racemosa" (Walter) C.Mohr )
type_species_authority = Sims, Bot. Mag. 22: t. 842 (1805).
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = See text

Ponthieva (commonly called Shadow Witch) is a genus form the orchid family (Orchidaceae). They are named after Henri de Ponthieu, a French merchant who sent West Indian plant collections to Sir Joseph Banks in 1778.

This genus occurs from the southern states of the USA to Mexico, the Caribbean and tropical America. They are mainly terrestrial plants with sympodial growth, but some are epiphytes.

Their fibrous root show long and soft hairs. Some of the branches are thickened. The simple stem grows from rhizomes and carries thin, basal leaves with a slight to a somewhat longer stalk. The few to many, erect flowers grow on bracteate peduncles in a terminal raceme. Their dorsal sepal is slightly joined to the petals at the apex. The petals are free or sometimes fused to lower flanks of the column. The lateral sepals are distinct or joined.

The clawed lip is fused to the base of the short column. This is semiterete, i.e in the form of a cylinder, rounded on one side and flat on the other. It is slightly winged towards the pointed apex.

There are four, yellow, club-shaped pollinia that are joined in pairs.

Species

* "Ponthieva andicola" Rchb.f. (1876) (Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva appendiculata" Schltr. (1915) (Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva bicornuta" C.Schweinf. (1951) (Peru)
* "Ponthieva brenesii" Schltr. (1923) (Costa Rica, Panama)
* "Ponthieva brittoniae" Ames (1910) : Britton’s Shadow Witch (Florida, Bahamas, Cuba)
* "Ponthieva campestris" (Liebm.) Garay (1995) (Mexico)
* "Ponthieva collantesii" D.E.Benn. & Christenson (1998) (Peru)
* "Ponthieva cornuta" Rchb.f. (1876) (Bolivia)
* "Ponthieva curvilabia" Garay (1978) (Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva cuyujana" Dodson & Hirtz (1989) (Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva diptera" Linden & Rchb.f. (1854) : Two-winged [Ponthieva (Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru)
* "Ponthieva disema" Schltr. (1915) (Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva dunstervillei" Foldats (1968) (Venezuela)
* "Ponthieva ekmanii" Mansf. (1929) (Haiti)
* "Ponthieva elegans" (Kraenzl.) Schltr. (1912) (Bolivia)
* "Ponthieva ephippium" Rchb.f. (1857) (Mexico, Guatemala)
* "Ponthieva formosa" Schltr. (1923) (Mexico, Central America)
* "Ponthieva garayana" Dodson & R.Vásquez (1989) (Bolivia)
* "Ponthieva gimana" Dodson (2003) (Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva gracilis" Renz (1948) (Colombia)
* "Ponthieva haitiensis" Mansf. (1926) (Haiti)
* "Ponthieva hameri" Dressler (1998) (El Salvador)
* "Ponthieva hassleri" Schltr. (1920) (Paraguay)
* "Ponthieva hildae" R.González & Soltero (1991) (Mexico)
* "Ponthieva inaudita" Rchb.f. (1876) : Unheard [Ponthieva (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru)
* "Ponthieva insularis" Dressler (2005) (Galapagos Islands)
* "Ponthieva keraia" Garay & Dunst. (1976) (Venezuela, Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva lilacina" C.Schweinf., (1941) (Peru)
* "Ponthieva maculata" Lindl. (1845) : Spotted [Ponthieva (Venezuela, Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva mandonii" Rchb.f. (1878) (Peru to NW Argentina)
* "Ponthieva microglossa" Schltr. (1920) (Colombia)
* "Ponthieva nigricans" Schltr. (1917) (Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva oligoneura" Schltr. (1921) (Peru)
* "Ponthieva ovatilabia" C.Schweinf. (1961) (Venezuela, Guyana)
* "Ponthieva parvilabris" (Lindl.) Rchb.f. (1878) : Small-lipped [Ponthieva (Venezuela, Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva parvula" Schltr. (1912) (Mexico, Guatemala)
* "Ponthieva pauciflora" (Sw.) Fawc. & Rendle (1910) (Caribbean)
* "Ponthieva petiolata" Lindl., Bot. Reg. 9: t. 760 (1824) (Lesser Antiles)
* "Ponthieva phaenoleuca" (Barb.Rodr.) Cogn. in C.F.P.von Martius & auct. suc. (eds.) (1895) (Brazil)
* "Ponthieva pilosissima" (Senghas) Dodson (1996) : Hairy [Ponthieva (Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva poitaei" Rchb.f. ex Nir (2000) (Dominican Republic)
* "Ponthieva pseudoracemosa" Garay (1978) (Ecuador, Peru)
* "Ponthieva pubescens" (C.Presl) C.Schweinf. (1970) (Ecuador, Peru, Brazil)
* "Ponthieva pulchella" Schltr. (1918) (Mexico, Guatemala)
* "Ponthieva racemosa" (Walter) C.Mohr : Hairy Shadow Witch, Racemose [Ponthieva (SE USA, Mexico, tropical America)
* "Ponthieva rinconii" Salazar (2005) (Mexico)
* "Ponthieva rostrata" Lindl. (1845) (Ecuador, Peru)
* "Ponthieva schaffneri" (Rchb.f.) E.W.Greenw. (1990) (Mexico, Guatemala)
* "Ponthieva similis" C.Schweinf. (1941) (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru)
* "Ponthieva sprucei" Cogn. in C.F.P.von Martius & auct. suc. (eds.) (1895) (Peru)
* "Ponthieva sylvicola" Rchb.f. (1876) (Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva triloba" Schltr. (1910) : Three-lobed Lip [Ponthieva (Mexico, El Salvador)
* "Ponthieva trilobata" (L.O.Williams) L.O.Williams (1972) (Mexico, Guatemala)
* "Ponthieva tuerckheimii" Schltr. (1906) (Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama)
* "Ponthieva tunguraguae" Garay (1978) (Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva unguiculata" Ames & C.Schweinf. (1925) (Bolivia)
* "Ponthieva vasquezii" Dodson (1989) (Bolivia)
* "Ponthieva ventricosa" (Griseb.) Fawc. & Rendle (1910) : Smooth Shadow Witch (Caribbean)
* "Ponthieva venusta" Schltr. (1921) (Ecuador, Peru)
* "Ponthieva villosa" Lindl. in G.Bentham (1845) (Ecuador, Peru)
* "Ponthieva viridilimbata" Dressler (2005) (Ecuador)
* "Ponthieva weberbaueri" Schltr. (1921) (Peru)