BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
CamprinGe, Massacuvusetts, JUNE 30, 1972 
Voi. 23, No. 4 
ON THE SYSTEMATICS OF THE 
MONOPODIAL ORCHIDS I. 
BY 
LEsLIE A. GARAY 
““Am Ende sind die meisten neueren Gattungen durch 
Willkir des Systematikers aufgestellt wirklich ‘natirliche’ 
sind bei den Orchideen nicht haufig.’’ 
—Reichenbach Filius, Linnaea 22: 851, May 1850.* 
These seemingly convicting lines must have been 
written by Reichenbach in the same frustrated state of 
mind as we find ourselves ever so often while attempting 
to present a satisfactory circumscription of orchid genera, 
especially those characterized by a monopodial habit of 
growth. The monopodial habit in the orchid family has 
developed independently more than once during its evo- 
lutionary history; however, as a recognizable systematic 
unit, which simultaneously denotes a distinct anagenetic 
line, has occurred only once and only within the Vandeae. 
There are no fewer than 206 generic names and some 
5,400 binomials pertaining to the monopodial orchids 
mentioned in the literature to date; of these approxi- 
mately 50% have been relegated to synonymy. The 
plants referable to the various genera and species are all 
native to the tropics and subtropics of both the Old and 
New Worlds. 
*** At the end most of the new genera are established through the 
arbitrary action of the systematists, truly ‘natural’ genera are rare in 
the Orchidaceae.’’ 
[149 ] 
