Pachites Lindl., Gen. Sp. Orchid. Pl.: 301 (1835).
Description:
Plants terrestrial, perennating with. tubers; leaves 3-12, narrow and basally sheathing, borne all along the stem, lower spreading, upper erect. lnflorescences terminal, unbranched; ovary pedicellate, not twisted. Flowers not resupinate, with subequal, linear to narrowly lanceolate, free sepals and petals. Lip similarly slender, flat, entire or with minute side lobes, without spurs. Gynostemium with a long, subcylindrical column- part; anther pendent with 2 sectile pollinia, each with a separate viscidium; stigma a 3-partite sessile pad or situated in a cavity; rostellum made up of 2 short lobes or 3-lobed with small lateral lobes and a long U-shaped central lobe.
Type species: Pachites appressa Lindl.
Distribution:
Pachites is a genus of two species confined to the Western Cape.
Cultivation:
Not in cultivation.
Notes:
The species share a gynostemium with an elongate column-part with Satyrium, but differ by their subactinomorphic perianth. Pachites rnay well be the 'primitive' forrm of Satyrium (Linder 1986a). Alternatively, it is also possible that the subactinomorphic is a secondary condition (Kurzweil 1996). Details of the flower structure of the two species are very different, suggesting that Pachites in its current delimitation is not monophyletic (Linder & Kurzweil1994; Kurzweil 1996).
Key to the species of Pachites Lindl.,
Bibliography and References:
Kurzweil H, Linder HP, Stern WL, Pridgeon AM. 1995 Comparative vegetative anatomy and classification of Diseae (Orchidaceae). Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 117. 171-220.
Kurzweil H. 1993 The remarkable anther structure of Pachites bodkinii (Orchidaceae). Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 114. (4): 561-569.
Kurzweil H. 1996 Floral morphology and ontogeny in subtribe Satyriinae (Fam. Orchidaceae) Flora. 191. 9-28.
Linder HP, Kurzweil H. 1994 The phylogeny and classification of the diseae (Orchidoideae: Orchidaceae). Ann. missouri Bot. Gard. 81. 687-713.
Olszewski TS. 2004 A provisional checklist of the continental African Orchidaceae. 4. Orchidoideae. 3. Satyrieae. Pol. Bot. J. 49. 21-33