Calypso
(pronounced: kah-LIP-so)
Classification
Calypsoeae
Overview
Diminutive cormose terrestrials. Stems very short. Leaves solitary, petiolate, appressed to the substrate. Inflorescences solitary, scapose, terminal, one-flowered. Flowers showy. Sepals and petals subsimilar, subequal, free, spreading. Lip obscurely three-lobed, sessile, saccate. Column lightly arching, broadly winged; pollinia 4, sessile on a common viscidium.
Etymology
From the Greek Kalypso, a Greek nymph in allusion to its secluded forest habitats.
Distribution
A monotypic circumboreal genus.
Care and Culture Card
See basic growing conditions and care information below.
Grow Calypso in living sphagnum moss or rich terrestrial compost. Provide cool, moist conditions and medium light levels. The plants should be overwintered by placing them in a cold frame or an alpine greenhouse, or by plunging the pots into a well-mulched garden bed.
Literature
Ackerman, J. D. 1981. Pollination biology of Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis (Orchidaceae): a food-deception system. Madroño 28(3):101-110. Boyden, T. C. 1982. The pollination biology of Calypso bulbosa var. americana (Orchidaceae): initial deception of bumblebee visitors. Oecol. 55:178-184. Buzanov, V. A. 1975. Distribution and conservation of the orchid Calypso bulbosa (L.) Reichb. f. in the Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Bull. Gl. Bot. Sada 5:112-113. Law, S. K. and E. C. Yeung 1989. Embryology of Calypso bulbosa I. Ovule development. Amer. J. Bot. 76:1668-1680. Law, S. K. and E. C. Yeung 1989. Embryology of Calypso bulbosa II. Embryo development. Canad. J. Bot. 70:461-468. Mosquin, T. 1970. The reproductive biology of Calypso bulbosa (Orchidaceae). Canadian Field Nat. 84:291-296. Perner, H. and U. Paterny 2000. Calypso bulbosa: die Varietäten, ihre Verbreitung und Biologie. Die Orchidee 51(2):[034]-[044]. Proctor, H. C. and L. D. Harder 1995. Effect of pollination success on floral longevity in the orchid Calypso bulbosa. Amer. J. Bot. 82:1131-1136.
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