Gains and losses of the epiphytic lifestyle in epidendroid orchids: review and new analyses of succulence traits.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Epiphytism has evolved repeatedly in plants and has resulted in a considerable number of species with original characteristics. Because water supply is generally erratic compared to that in soils, succulent forms in particular are widespread in epiphytic species. However, succulent organs also exist in terrestrial plants, and the question of the concomitant evolution of epiphytism and succulence has received little attention, not even in the epidendroid orchids, which account for 67.6 % of vascular epiphytes.

Methods

We built a new time-calibrated phylogenetic tree of Epidendroideae with 203 genera treated in genus Orchidacearum, from which we reconstructed the evolution of epiphytism as well as traits related to water scarcity (stem and leaf succulence a

SUBMITTER: Collobert G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10799982 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature