Спирантес: таксономия, распространение и особенности рода

Genus of flowering plants in the orchid family Orchidaceae
Automatic taxobox
| image = Spiranthes magnicamporum Arkansas. jpg
| image caption = Spiranthes magnicamporum
| display parents = 3
| taxon = Spiranthes
| authority = Rich., 1817
| type species = Ophrys spiralis = Spiranthes spiralis
| type species authority = (L.) Chevall. 1827
| subdivision ranks = Species
| subdivision = See text
| synonyms ref = The genus is distributed in the Americas, Eurasia, and Australia. The genus name Spiranthes is derived from the Greek speira ("coil") and anthos ("flower"), and was inspired by the spirally arranged inflorescence.

The genus Spiranthes was first formally described in 1817 by Louis Claude Richard in his book De Orchideis Europaeis Annotationes. The genus's name is derived from ancient Greek words meaning "a coil" and "a flower". Since its original description, the genus has undergone many taxonomic changes. Spiranthes once contained all the species from the subtribe Spiranthinae. In 1920, Spiranthes was split into 24 genera. Revisions in 1951 and 1958 placed more species into the genus. During the 1990s it was divided again. Spiranthes has recently received increased attention from taxonomists and systematists, leading to new species discovery and the resolution of many long term taxonomic questions. It is difficult to clearly define some of the species of this taxon because some of them are polymorphic, taking a number of different forms, with some species belonging to species complexes involving several closely related and morphologically similar species (e. g., the S. cernua species complex; S. parksii, a member of the S. cernua complex and probably a descendant of S. cernua. It has been suggested that this species is just another rare form).

Spiranthes are primarily pollinated by bumblebees, however other bee genera also pollinate various species, including halictid bees, and honey bees (particularly in Europe and Asia).