Cottonia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae: the only known species is Cottonia peduncularis. It is native to India and Sri Lanka. The genus was erected by Robert Wight and named after Major Frederick Cotton, an amateur botanist who served in the Madras Engineer Group and collected the species from Tellichery. A coloured illustration of the plant had been sent to Wight by Thomas C. Jerdon.[2][3][4][5]
| Cottonia | |
|---|---|
_-_Curtis%27_116_(Ser._3_no._46)_pl._7099_(1890).jpg)
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| 1890 illustration from Curtis's Botanical Magazine | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Orchidaceae |
| Subfamily: | Epidendroideae |
| Tribe: | Vandeae |
| Subtribe: | Aeridinae |
| Genus: | Cottonia Wight |
| Species: | C. peduncularis
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| Binomial name | |
| Cottonia peduncularis | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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This epiphytic orchid has a lip shaped like a hairy bee (as in the well-known Ophrys apifera) giving it the name of bee-orchid but, unlike species in the genus Ophrys, no specific bee pollinator has been identified. It was first described as Vanda peduncularis by Lindley.[3][6]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1
- ^ Wight, R. (1851). Icones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis. Vol. 5. p. 21.
- ^ a b [F.W.B.] (1885). "Orchids. Vanda peduncularis". The Garden: 51.
- ^ "Cottonia macrostachya". Curtis's Botanical Magazine. 46: 7099. 1890.
- ^ Berg Pana, H. 2005. Handbuch der Orchideen-Namen. Dictionary of Orchid Names. Dizionario dei nomi delle orchidee. Ulmer, Stuttgart
- ^ Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P., Chase, M.W. & Rasmussen, F.N. (Eds) (2014) Genera Orchidacearum Volume 6: Epidendroideae (Part 3); page 168 ff., Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-964651-7
External links
edit
Media related to Cottonia (Orchidaceae) at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Cottonia at Wikispecies
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