Satyrium_(plant)
Satyrium (plant)
Genus of plants in the orchid family
Satyrium is a genus of orchid. The Kew plant list for 2010 listed 85 full species as accepted, ignoring synonyms, subspecies and hybrids etc. About ten were still unresolved at the time. Most of the species occur in sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. The ranges of four species extend to Asia, mainly in India and Sri Lanka. Hybridization occurs between several species, complicating molecular phylogenetic studies, especially those relying on mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA sequences.[1]
Pencil and watercolour by Harry Blus
The genus most closely related to Satyrium is presumed to be Pachites, which together with Satyrium makes up the subtribe Satyriinae of the Diseae. Historically other species with helmet-shaped flowers e.g. Aceras, Chamorchis and Platanthera, often were included in the genus Satyrium, but far from belonging in the same genus, they no longer are included even within the Satyriinae, but within the tribe Orchideae. In a 2015 classification of Orchidaceae, Satyrium itself was placed in the subtribe Orchidinae.[2]
