Aerides
(pronounced: ay-ayr-EE-dees)
Classification
Vandeae subtribe Aeridinae. The genus is divided into four sections. Section Aerides comprises species with an articulated lip in which the lobes are erect-incurved and conceal the entrance to the throat. Section Falcata Christenson is similar, but with t
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Overview
Monopodial epiphytes. Stems short and rooting at the base to elongate and vining and rooting along their length. Leaves alternate, distichous, leathery, obliquely bilobed. Inflorescences racemes or panicles, pendent, arching or occasionally erect, densely many-flowered. Flowers showy, usually fragrant. Sepals and petals free, spreading, the lateral sepals inserted on the column foot. Lip three-lobed or unlobed (the lateral lobes then reduced to small wings), rigidly fused or flexibly articulated to the column foot, with a nectar-bearing spur, the spur with glandular transverse callus ridges within. Column columbiform, with an elongate foot; pollinia 2, each unevenly cleft, on a common linear stipe and viscidium.
Etymology
From the Greek aer, meaning air, and eides, meaning resembling, in allusion to their epiphytic habit.
Distribution
A genus of 19 species found from South India and Sri Lanka to the Philippines and New Guinea.
Care and Culture Card
See basic growing conditions and care information below.
Grow short-stemmed species of Aerides in small baskets or pots with a medium to coarse-grade potting mixture, or on slabs with a small pad of moisture-retaining material at the roots. Water as needed allowing the plants to almost dry out at the roots between waterings. Grow vine-like species of Aerides in large baskets without any potting material. Water daily. Give all species intermediate to warm temperatures, bright diffuse light, and ample air movement.
Literature
Ahmed, M., M. Moyeen, M. K. Pasha and M. A. Aziz-Khan 1989. A taxonomic account of Aerides Lour. (Orchidaceae) from Bangladesh. Bangladesh J. Bot. 18(2):147-155. Christenson, E. A. 1987. Taxonomy of Aerides and related genera. Proc. 12th World Orchid Conf. 35-40. Christenson, E. A. 1994. Sarcanthine Genera 10: Aerides Lour. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 62(6):594-609. Kaushik, P. 1982. Anatomy of Aerides (Orchidaceae), and its ecological and taxonomic bearing. Phytomorph. 32(2-3):157-166. Seidenfaden, G. 1973. Contributions to the orchid flora of Thailand V: Aerides. Bot. Tidsskrift 68:68-80.
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