''Cleistes'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of orchids (family

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

). It contains approximately 40–50 species, most of them native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

, with a few species extending north into Costa Rica and

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

. Two North American species were formerly included in this group, but are now regarded as a separate genus, ''

Cleistesiopsis ''Cleistesiopsis'' is an orchid genus in the tribe Pogonieae. Its members were included in ''Cleistes'' until 2009. ''Cleistesiopsis'' is native to the eastern and southeastern United States from New Jersey south to Florida, and west to Kentucky ...

''.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Species, ''Cleistesiopsis''
/ref>

References

* (1840) The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants 409. * (2003) Genera Orchidacearum 3: 286 ff. Oxford University Press.

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q134020 Vanilloideae genera Pogonieae Orchids of Central America Orchids of South America