Adansonia
44 (9) - Pages 63-79The article begins with a brief history of the genus Cynorkis Thouars (Orchidaceae), which comprises at the time being 190 species, mostly of Africa and Indian Ocean but with one species reaching the Pacific Ocean. The genus Cynorkis was created by Thouars in 1809 but in the early years several species, now recognised as Cynorkis were scattered among other genera such as Amphorchis Thouars, Satyrium Sw. and Habenaria Willd. The first major publications were Thouars 1822, A.Richard 1828 and Cordemoy 1895 and the number of species reached 73 in 1915 (Schltr. 1915). Then Schlechter (Schltr. 1925) and Perrier de la Bâthie (Perrier 1939) added many species of Madagascar, to reach a total of 125. More recently, series of contributions by Bosser and Hermans et al., and one recent paper by Pailler have given the current number 190. Other potential new species have been recently pointed out by various authors.
Madagascar, Orchidaceae, new combination, new status, new species