Cyclopogon

Cranichideae subtribe Spiranthinae. Cyclopogon has been included in a formerly broadly defined Spiranthes. Some botanists treat Cyclopogon as a monotypic genus based on the presence of a sepaline tube caused by fusion of the sepal bases in the type specie

Terrestrials with fleshy, fasciculate roots. Leaves several, in a basal rosette, distinctly petiolate, sometimes patterned. Inflorescences erect, scapose racemes, long-pedunculate. Flowers small, membranaceous, tubular. Sepals subsimilar, free to basally fused into a tube. Petals free, appressed to the dorsal sepal. Lip clawed, sagittate-auriculate. Column cylindric, pubescent in front; pollinia 2, soft.

From the Greek kylos, meaning circle, and pogon, meaning beard, from the long-pubescent sepal apices which resemble a circular beard when viewed from the front of the flower.

A genus of about 55 species throughout the Neotropics with one species (escaped?) in Asia.

Burns-Balogh, P. and M. S. Foster 1985. Cyclopogon deminkiorum Burns-Balogh and M. S. Foster: a new species from Paraguay (Orchidaceae: Spiranthinae). Canad. Orchid J. 3:5-9.

Calco, R. N. 1990. Four-year growth and reproduction of Cyclopogon cranichoides (Orchidaceae) in South Florida. Amer. J. Bot. 77(6):736-741.