Orchidales

(botany) An order of monocotyledonous plants in the subclass Liliidae; plants are mycotropic and sometimes nongreen with numerous tiny seeds that have an undifferentiated embryo and little or no endosperm.

An order of flowering plants, division Magnoliophyta (Angiospermae), in the subclass Liliidae of the class Liliopsida (monocotyledons). The order consists of four families: the Orchidaceae (see illustration), with perhaps 15,000–20,000 species; the Burmanniaceae, with about 130 species; the Cordiaceae, with 9 species; and the Geosiridaceae, with 1 species. The Orchidales are mycotrophic, sometimes nongreen Liliidae with very numerous tiny seeds that have an undifferentiated embryo and little or no endosperm. The ovary is always inferior and apparently lacks the septal nectaries found in many Liliopsida although other kinds of nectaries are present. See also Flower; Liliidae; Liliopsida; Magnoliophyta; Orchid.

Eastern American species of moccasin flower (Cypripedium acaule). (U.S. Forest Service photograph by R. Dale Sanders)

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: order of plants with irregular flowers having minute seeds: Orchidaceae; Burmanniaceae
  Synonym: order Orchidales

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Phalaenopsis orchid

Orchidales is a botanical name of an order of flowering plants. In taxonomical systems, this is a relatively recent name, as early systems used descriptive botanical names for the order containing the orchids. The Bentham & Hooker and the Engler systems had the orchids in order Microspermae while the Wettstein system treats them as order Gynandrae. Circumscription of the order will vary with the taxonomic system being used. Although mostly the order will consist of the orchids only (usually in one family only, but sometimes divided into more families, as in the Dahlgren system, see below), sometimes other families are added:

Contents 1 Circumscription in the Takhtajan system 2 Circumscription in the Cronquist system 3 Circumscription in the Dahlgren system 4 Circumscription in the Thorne system 5 APG system 6 See also

Circumscription in the Takhtajan system

Takhtajan system:

• order Orchidales

  family Orchidaceae

Circumscription in the Cronquist system

Cronquist system (1981):

• order Orchidales

  family Geosiridaceae

  family Burmanniaceae

  family Corsiaceae

  family Orchidaceae

Circumscription in the Dahlgren system

Dahlgren system:

• order Orchidales

  family Neuwiediaceae

  family Apostasiaceae

  family Cypripediaceae

  family Orchidaceae

Circumscription in the Thorne system

Thorne system (1992):

• order Orchidales

  family Orchidaceae

APG system

The order is not recognized in the APG II system, which assigns the orchids to order Asparagales.

See also

• Taxonomy of the orchid family

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