Ponthieva racemosa

Ponthieva racemosa is an orchid that occurs in the southeastern United States, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, and South America in Ecuador, Columbia, and Venezuela. This species is rare to uncommon throughout the United States, except in Florida where it is common. This species is moderately threatened over much of its range in the United States by habitat loss and degradation.

Ponthieva racemosa occurs throughout the southeastern United States, Mexico, West Indies (including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Cuba, Panama), and South America (Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela) (Szlachetko et al. 2019, Villaseñor 2016, FNA 2002a). Range extent was estimated with GeoCAT using occurrence and photo based observation data (GBIF 2022, iNaturalist 2022, SEINet 2022, Bachman et al. 2011).

This species is rare throughout the United States, expect in Florida where it can be common (Weakley and Southeastern Flora Team 2022). Five sites are mapped for Colombia which may suggest that the species is uncommon (Szlachetko et al. 2019). The species abundance over the remainder of its range is unknown. Based on NatureServe Network occurrence data, herbarium records, photo-based observations, and anecdotal evidence, there are likely over 300 occurrences rangewide (GBIF 2022, iNaturalist 2022, NatureServe 2022, SEINet 2022).

This species is threatened by habitat destruction and degradation largely due to woody plant encroachment due to the lack of natural disturbance regimes like fire, off road vehicles at some occurrences, competition with exotic species, urban development, conversion of lands for pine plantations, and timber harvest. While these threats are documented for occurrences in the United States, they are likely applicable rangewide.