north american native orchid journal - at The Culture Sheet

SOME NORTH AMERICAN ORCHID FACTOIDS
SOME NORTH AMERICAN ORCHID
FACTOIDS
(Updated for August 2006)
Did You Know????
There are 210 species plus an additional 3 subspecies and 24
varieties of native orchids found in North America north of
Mexico for a total of 237?
(Note: Opinions will always vary as to the precise number as
different orchidists view species differently. The old lumpers vs.
the splitters! This number takes the more open approach and
embraces as many species as have been described. From a very
conservative standpoint the number might be reduced to 234).
We also have 14+ non-native or alien species that have been
documented as naturalized, introduced, escaped, waifs, etc.
Of these only 6 are truly naturalized and reproducing in
populations in the wild.
• Cyrtopodium polyphyllum southern Florida
• Epipactis helleborine much of the temperate United States and sparingly
in Canada
• Listera ovata southern Ontario
• Oeceoclades maculata southern and central Florida
• Spathoglottis plicata southern Florida
• Zeuxine strateumatica southeastern United States
Both Dactylorhiza species founding Ontario and Newfoundland are of
questionable origin.
For the combined total of 251 species, subspecies, and varieties that have
been found growing in the wild in the North America north of Mexico plus
more than 200 named color and growth forms:
112 species are found only in the US and Canada
39