Aspidogyne

Cranichideae subtribe Goodyerinae. Aspidogyne was included in a broadly defined Erythrodes, an opinion still held by a minority of botanists. Garay (1977) divided Aspidogyne into three sections. Section Aspidogyne produces flowers on a peduncle as long as

Trailing terrestrials rooting at the nodes. Stems leafy. Inflorescences erect, terminal racemes, long-pedunculate to subsessile. Leaves thin-textured, petiolate, clustered towards the stem apex or scattered along the length of the stems. Flowers small, tubular. Sepals and petals subsimilar, subequal, free, the petals usually appressed to the dorsal sepal forming a hood over the column. Lip basally saccate and fused to the column, apically often bilobed, +/- recurved, with a spur parallel to the ovary. Column elongate, the rostellum entire, convex, flabellate to oblong-elliptic; pollinia 2, on a common viscidium.

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A genus of about 30 species native to Central and South America.

Carnevali, G. & E. Foldats 1989. A new Aspidogyne (Orchidaceae) from Venezuelan Guayana. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 76:596-597.

Garay, L. A. 1977. Systematics of the Physurinae (Orchidaceae) in the new world. Bradea 2(28):191-204.

Salazar, G. A. 1993. Typification and notes on Aspidogyne stictophylla (Schltr.) Garay (Orchidaceae: Goodyerinae). Orquídea (Mex.) 13(1-2):201-204.