Thanks Rob, not worried, just curious. And yes, they do look very different
considering the pouch/slipper instead of a lip and the fused sepals...
"Rob Halgren" wrote in message
...
Jerry Hoffmeister wrote:
It's the second time this week I'm seeing the comment that Paphs are not
quite orchids (the other was in the Paph article in the latest Orchids I
think) - could you elaborate?
Well... I don't have the primary reference material in front of me.
But the general gist is that at both the phenotypic (what you see) and
genotypic (what the DNA looks like) level, Cyps (including Paphs, phrags,
cyps, and selenopediums, probably) are sufficiently different from the other
'true orchids' that they should be in their own group. The argument might
be that if someone were to trip over a Paph. rothschildianum on a Borneo
mountaintop today, and that was the first time that a paph had been
described, it wouldn't be described as an orchid.
So, orchids and cypripediums diverged some substantial time ago
(megayears, in evolutionary terms), probably before the breakup of the
pangaean supercontinent (since they are everywhere). According to the NCBI
(which isn't a taxonomic authority, and may not be completely up on current
subtleties), they are all (now) in the order Asparagales (including
asparagus, agaves, onions, clivia, daffodils...), in the class Liliopsida.
Cypripedioideae are still in the family Orchidaceae, and share the same rank
as the Epidendroideae (most of the things you think of as orchids),
Orchidoideae (remarkably, most of the things you rarely think of, if you do
at all), and the Vanilloideae (tasty ice cream tribe).
If you are still with me, the cyps are pretty different from cattleyas
and phals. Taxonomy is only a poor picture of real life, drawn with a
rather thick brush. But horticulturally they are still orchids. And no
orchid grower is going to say they aren't orchids. So I wouldn't worry
about it.
Rob
--
Rob's Rules: http://www.msu.edu/~halgren
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a. See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to purchase
more orchids, obtain more credit