Plant dynamics and Climate Change in the Andes
Top Ten Botanic Gifts from the Andes
Newton Fund Workshop on Plant Dynamics and Climate Change in the Andes, Mendoza 2018
Scaphosepalum gibberosum
One of the 5,000 species of babyboot orchids (Pleurothallidinae), endemic to the Northern Andes region in Colombia.
Kefersteinia parvilabris
A member of the boat orchid clade (Cymbidieae), distributed in the cloud forests of the Northern Andes.
Orchidaceae Gavilea odoratissima
Photo: Diego Alarcon
Orchidaceae Gavilea odoratissima
Orchidaceae Gavilea nudilabia
Orchidaceae Chloraea cuneata
Orchidaceae Chloraea lamellata
Orchidaceae Chloraea magellanica
Data
- Orchids
- Text by: O. Perez-Escobar.
- Photo: O. Perez-Escobar
Description
Orchids are a prominent component of the Andean flora for they virtually occur across the whole elevational range of the cordillera below the snow-line. They also account for 20% of total plant Andean species diversity and often they are counted amongst the most speciose lineages in key ecosystems of the mountain such as dry and cloud forests. More importantly, the Andes is the premier centre of orchid diversity and evolutionary hotspot worldwide because it promoted and hosted multiple rapid diversifications during the Miocene that gave rise to the two largest orchid clades in the tropics: the miniature babyboot (Pleurothallidinae, ~5000 species) and the boat orchids.(Cymbidieae, ~3000 species).
Top Ten
