18. Voyria Aublet, Hist. Pl. Guiane. 1: 208, plate 83. 1775.
[Garipons, spoken in French Guiana, voyria, local name alluding to edible roots of achlorophyllous heterotrophic plants, probably Voyria rosea Aublet]
James S. Pringle
Leiphaimos Schlechtendal & Chamisso
Herbs perennial, achlorophyllous, glabrous [variously puberulent]. Leaves cauline, opposite [proximal alternate], scalelike. Inflorescences small dichasial cymes [flowers solitary]. Flowers [4]5-merous; calyx small, tube campanulate [to cylinidric]; corolla white or pink [orange, yellow, pale violet-blue], salverform [funnelform], glabrous [tube pubescent on adaxial or both surfaces], lobes shorter than tube, imbricate in bud, entire, plicae between lobes absent, spurs absent; stamens inserted in distal 1/2 of corolla tube; anthers subsessile, distinct [connate], remaining straight; ovary stipitate [sessile]; style persistent [deciduous], erect, short [long], remaining straight; stigma 2-lobed [unlobed]; nectaries absent [2, on proximal part of ovary]. Capsules ellipsoid.
Species ca. 20 (1 in the flora): Florida, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Africa; warm-temperate to tropical areas.
Plants of Voyria are mycotrophic. The root anatomy and mycorrhizae of several species have been investigated by S. Imhof (1997, 1999, and references cited therein). The one species in the flora area is in subg. Leiphaimos (Schlechtendal & Chamisso) V. A. Albert & Struwe.
SELECTED REFERENCES Albert, V. A. and L. Struwe. 1997. Phylogeny and classification of Voyria (saprophytic Gentianaceae). Brittonia 49: 466–479. Maas, P. J. M. and P. Ruyters. 1986. Voyria and Voyriella (saprophytic Gentianaceae). In: Organization for Flora Neotropica. 1968+. Flora Neotropica. 121+ nos. New York. No. 41.
