Herbs epiphytic, monopodial. Roots velamentous, fleshy, glabrous. Stems very short. Leaves early deciduous, conduplicate, articulate, sessile, minute. Inflorescences axillary, 1-10-flowered racemes; peduncle slender. Flowers resupinate, large; sepals and petals similar, spreading, distinct and free, lanceolate; lip free, 3-lobed, small to very large, lateral lobes relatively short, middle lobe entire or deeply lobed, basal spur elongate; column very short, without foot; clinandrium prominent, truncate; anthers terminal, incumbent, operculate; pollinia 2, globose, waxy, hard, attached to single or separate stipes; stigma entire; rostellum deeply notched; ovary pedicellate. Fruits capsules, narrowly cylindric, ribbed. The Florida representative of Dendrophylax has been variously placed in Polyrrhiza Pfitzer (D. S. Correll 1950; C. A. Luer 1972) or Polyradicion Garay (L. A. Garay 1969). The type of Polyrrhiza is the Jamaican P. funalis (Swartz) Pfitzer, which is regarded as a Dendrophylax (W. Fawcett and A. E. Rendle 1910-1936, vol. 1; C. D. Adams 1972). Garay proposed Polyradicion to accommodate P. lindenii and another species. Recent research by M. Whitten (pers. comm.) on the molecular systematics of neotropical angraecoid taxa has shown that Polyradicion is phylogenetically embedded in Dendrophylax. Consequently, both Polyrrhiza and Polyradicion are best treated as synonyms of Dendrophylax.
Herbs epiphytic, monopodial, miniature, glabrous. Roots velamentous, slender. Stems very short, inconspicuous. Leaves absent or scalelike. Inflorescences axillary, often sparsely branched. Flowers fewer than 12, not resupinate, minute, globose; sepals and petals similar, distinct and free; lip simple, with basal, saccate spur; column short; anthers terminal, incumbent, operculate; pollinaria 2, each with 1 hard, waxy pollinium attached to stipe; viscidia 2, elongate; ovary subsessile. Fruits capsules, dehiscent, 3 broad valves alternating with 3 linear ribs, all 6 segments separating from distal end and reflexing. Harrisella merits careful systematic study. Although L. O. Williams (1965) asserted that the genus has no characteristics by which it can be distinguished from Campylocentrum, among the Caribbean species Harrisella is readily distinguished by several key characteristics: capsules that dehisce from the distal end and separate into 6 parts; relatively long-pedicellate ovaries; and slender, sometimes branched, laxly flowered inflorescences. In addition, Harrisella may be distinguished from Campylocentrum by having two pollinaria instead of one, each possessing only one pollinium. It seems likely that the genus may be more related to the Caribbean Dendrophylax.
This project made possible through support from the UF Planning, Design & Construction and the UF Office of Sustainability