Orthochilus foliosus surviving name changes

The old name of Orthochilus foliosus was Eulophia foliosa. The name change was prompted by research into the phylogenetics of the related plants, bringing about the splitting of the larger Eulophia genus. This resulted in two monophyletic groupings, the newer genera of Orthochilus and Eulophia.

In Southern Sotho the plant has several names, being common in the area where this language is spoken. One of these names is loetsane, its meaning could not be found. The English common name of leafy harlequin is sometimes used for this plant.

Monophyletic means that all plants in every group descend from a common evolutionary ancestor or ancestral group, not shared with any other group. Way back similar looking plants were sometimes grouped together taxonomically on their looks, prior to the advent of genetic investigation that could scientifically prove features of the plants’ family trees.

Since the oldest, unused available name around the newly separated grouping was Orthochilus, this old name was reinstated for the newly created genus. Orthochilus plants differ from Eulophia in their petals and sepals being quite similar in shape, size and colour. The perianths of Orthochilus flowers are also more or less bell-shaped (Germishuizen and Fabian, 1982; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; www.zimbabweflowers.co.zw).