Elleanthus aurantiacus

Ellianthus aurantiacus is an orchid (family Orchidaceae) native from Costa Rica to Peru. It is unique among orchids in being a shrub with repeated orders of branching.[1] The plant gets about three feet (0.9 meters) in height and not quite as wide.

Elleanthus aurantiacus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Genus: Elleanthus
Species:
E. aurantiacus
Binomial name
Elleanthus aurantiacus

The species was described in 1863 by the botanist Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach as a part of the Wilhelm Gerhard Walpers work Annales Botanices Systematicae.[2] The basionym is Evelyna aurantiaca as described by John Lindley in 1845.[3]

This epiphytic plant is mostly found in wet tropical biomes from Nicaragua in the north through the rest of Central America including Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama. The range extends into northern South America including Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru in the south.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Shuttleworth, Floyd S.; Zim, Herbert S. (1970). Orchids. New York: Golden Press. p. 31.
  2. ^ a b "Elleanthus aurantiacus (Lindl.) Rchb.f." Kew Science – Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  3. ^ "Elleanthus aurantiacus (Lindl.) Rchb. f." Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved 11 November 2022.