22. Ponthieva R. Brown, Hortus Kew. 5: 199. 1813.
[For Henri de Ponthieu, a West Indian merchant who sent plant collections to Sir Joseph Banks in 1778]
James D. Ackerman
Herbs, terrestrial, rarely epiphytic, sympodial. Roots fasciculate, fleshy, villous. Stems simple, rhizomatous. Leaves mostly basal, subsessile to petiolate; blade not articulate, thin, delicate. Inflorescences terminal, few- to many-flowered racemes; peduncles bracteate, glandular-pubescent. Flowers not resupinate, erect or suberect, dishlike; perianth spreading; dorsal sepal lightly adherent to petals at apex; lateral sepals distinct or connate; petals free or adnate to basal flanks of column, obliquely triangular, clawed, conspicuous, often forming “pseudolip”; lip adnate to base of column, distinctly to obscurely clawed, deeply concave, fleshy; column semiterete, dilated and slightly winged distally, short, apex pointed; anther adaxial, erect behind rostellum; pollinia 4, bright yellow, clavate, joined in pairs, firm but somewhat mealy, attached to caudicles; stigma entire; viscidium terminal; pedicellate ovary pubescent. Fruits capsules, suberect, ellipsoid [obovoid].
Species 25 (2 in the flora): tropical and subtropical, North America, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America.
