Bletilla
(pronounced: ble-TILL-ah)
Classification
Arethuseae subtribe Bletiinae
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Overview
Terrestrials arising from cormose tubers. Stems short, erect, leafy. Leaves alternate, distichous, plicate, linear-lanceolate. Inflorescecnes terminal pedunculate racemes. Flowers cupped, lightly nodding, membranous. Sepals and petals free, spreading, subsimilar, subequal. Lip three-lobed, sessile, with longitudinal parallel callus keels. Column elongate, arching, without wings or foot; pollinia 8, joined in pairs by caudicles.
Etymology
Diminutive of the orchid genus Bletia which it resembles.
Distribution
A genus of nine species in China and Japan. The corms of Bletilla are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Care and Culture Card
See basic growing conditions and care information below.
Grow plants of Bletilla in pots of sandy loam with the addition of peat moss or outdoors in garden beds in temperate areas protected from hard freezes. Provide intermediate temperatures during active growth and cooler, drier conditions after flowering. Overwinter plants in an alpine greenhouse, a cold-frame or in a garden bed with heavy winter mulching.
Literature
Bowden, W. M. 1980. Bletilla striata, a hardy, Asiatic orchid. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 49(2):139-143. Cribb, P. and S. Robbins 1991. The genus Bletilla in cultivation. Orchid Rev. 99(1178):406-409. Cribb, P. and S. Thomas 1998. Bletillas of western Sichuan. Orchid Rev. 106(1220):83-86. Evenden, R. 1991. Bletilla culture. Orchid Rev. 99(1178):409-412. Netherby, B. 1991. The golden Bletilla, Bletilla ochracea. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 60(1):15-18. Schlechter, R. 1911. Die Gattung Bletilla Rchb.f. Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 10:254-256. Sheehan, T. and M. Sheehan 1978. Orchid Genera Illustrated, 61: Bletilla. Amer. Orchid Soc. Bull. 47(3):2240-225. Tan, K. W. 1969. The systematic position of the genus Bletilla (Orchidaceae). Brittonia 21(3):202-214.
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