The flowers are small, and nearly always white, cream, or a pale shade of green or lavender, with the exception of two species of Hexisea, which are mostly brilliant red.
Most Scaphyglottis are pollinated by insects; nearly all species produce nectar which accumulates in the nectary formed by the base of the lip and the bottom of the column.
The generic epithet comes from the Greek skaphe, concave or hollow, and glotta, tongue, in reference to the shape of the floral labellum.
[4] There is a large group of species clearly belonging to the genus, such as the now defunct three small genera Tetragamestus, Leaoa, and Hexadesmia, which were brought into synonymy decades ago.
Many of the species belonging to Scaphyglottis before the unification are also confusing and variable, forming various complexes of reproductively isolated groups that seem morphologically identical.
In 2004, several other genera were brought into synonymy with Scaphyglottis as the concept is used today: Hexadesmia This genus containing 27 species was described by Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart in 1843.
Leaoa: In 1922, Rudolf Schlechter and Paulo de Campos Porto[7] erected this small genus for a species that had previously been called Hexadesmia monophylla, which had a very long inflorescence, rather than the short inflorescence typical of Hexadesmia, as well as the typical six pollinia.
More species were added to the genus by Leslie Andrew Garay in 1955[8] and by Freidrich Gustav Brieger in 1976,[9] bringing the total to four.
Four species of pendant epiphytes which occur from Central America to southeastern Brazil in tropical rain forests have been included in this genus, the last in 1997 by Dressler.
They grow naturally in tropical and equatorial, humid, low-altitude forests from southern Mexico to northern and northwestern South America.
The pseudobulbs are typically cylindrical or fusiform, bear deciduous linear-lanceolate leaves, and grow one from at the apex of another to form articulated chains.
The racemose inflorescence is apical or from the nodes of the joints between pseudobulbs, with few flowers open simultaneously (generally only two or three) being produced over several years.
[21] Euothonaea was published by Reichenbach in 1852, but was invalid for technical reasons[22] This genus has always been relegated to synonomy under Hexisea.
flat, coriaceous, alternate leaves, and an apical racemose inflorescence with up to four pale flowers open at once, featuring long ovaries and large bracts at the base of the peduncle.
(1923) corresponds to a well-supported clade distinct from the remainder of the modern concept of Scaphyglottis, as does the species S. livida.
A few greges produced by hybridizing Scaphyglottis species have been registered:[31] In response to reports of the use of Scaphyglottis species in popular medicine for pain relief, a study was performed which showed that oral administration of certain substances (5alpha-lanosta-24,24-dimethyl-9(11),25-dien-3beta-ol, cyclobalanone, gigantol, and 3,4'-dihydroxy-3',4,5-trimethoxybibenzyl) found in S. livida produced anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects in rats and mice, apparently (at least partially) by activation of opioid receptors.