Malaxis excavata(Lindl.) Kuntze

WFO wfo-0000233836 Accepted WFO 2026-06 7 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–g · 2 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 2 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Malaxis excavata, photographed by Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias
fig. a Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-04-06 / obs. 119386864
Malaxis excavata, photographed by Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias
fig. b Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 119386660
Malaxis excavata, photographed by Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias
fig. c Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 119386711
Malaxis excavata, photographed by Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias
fig. d Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 119386945
Malaxis excavata, photographed by Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias
fig. e Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 119386977
Malaxis excavata, photographed by julianazuluaga-carrero
fig. f julianazuluaga-carrero, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 198836190
Malaxis excavata, photographed by julianazuluaga-carrero
fig. g julianazuluaga-carrero, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 198836204

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Accession
K000079709
Filed as
Malaxis excavata (Lindl.) Kuntze
Det. by
Williams, L.O.
Collected
s.coll.
Origin
not recorded
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 20 botanical countries

Regions where Malaxis excavata is native: Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Argentina Northwest, Bolivia, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Panamá, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela Mexico CentralMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestArgentina NorthwestBoliviaBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastColombiaCosta RicaEcuadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasPanamáPeruSurinameVenezuela
Native distribution of Malaxis excavata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northwest AGW SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bolivia BOL
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Ecuador ECU
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Suriname SUR
Venezuela VEN
Mexico Central MXC NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 22 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Cheiropterocephalus sertuliferus Barb.Rodr.
  • Epidendrum umbellatum Vell.
  • Malaxis caracasana (Klotzsch ex Ridl.) Kuntze
  • Malaxis carpinterae (Schltr.) Ames
  • Malaxis hastilabia (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Malaxis hastilabia subsp. caracasana (Klotzsch ex Ridl.) Marg.
  • Malaxis hastilabia var. major (Porsch) Marg.
  • Malaxis ottonis (Schltr.) Carnevali & I.Ramírez
  • Malaxis sertulifera (Barb.Rodr.) Pabst
  • Malaxis uncinata Ames & C.Schweinf.
  • Microstylis caracasana Klotzsch ex Ridl.
  • Microstylis carpinterae Schltr.
  • Microstylis excavata Lindl.
  • Microstylis hastilabia Rchb.f.
  • Microstylis hastilabia var. major Porsch
  • Microstylis muelleri Schltr.
  • Microstylis ottonis Schltr.
  • Microstylis paranaensis Schltr.
  • Microstylis quadrangularis Cogn.
  • Microstylis sertulifera (Barb.Rodr.) Schltr.
  • Microstylis spiralipetala Cogn.
  • Pycnantha orchioides Ravenna

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.