Polystachya concreta(Jacq.) Garay & H.R.Sweet

Greater yellowspike orchidgreater yellowspike orchid

WFO wfo-0000280313 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Polystachya concreta, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. a Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-10-23 / obs. 165761000

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.

Native range 81 botanical countries

Regions where Polystachya concreta is native: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Réunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, China South-Central, Andaman Is., Borneo, Cambodia, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Nicobar Is., Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, Florida, Mexico Southeast, Argentina Northwest, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Cayman Is., Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Panamá, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is. AngolaBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicCongoDR CongoEquatorial GuineaEswatiniEthiopiaGabonGhanaGuineaGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMozambiqueNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweChina South-CentralBorneoCambodiaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalayaMalukuPhilippinesSri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamFloridaMexico SoutheastArgentina NorthwestBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCubaDominican RepublicEcuadorFrench GuianaGuatemalaGuyanaHaitiJamaicaPanamáPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoVenezuela ComorosMauritiusRéunionSeychellesAndaman Is.Nicobar Is.BahamasCayman Is.Leeward Is.Venezuelan AntillesWindward Is.
Native distribution of Polystachya concreta, 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Central African Republic CAF
Comoros COM
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Gabon GAB
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Réunion REU
Rwanda RWA
Seychelles SEY
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
Argentina Northwest AGW SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bahamas BAH
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Cayman Is. CAY
Colombia CLM
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
French Guiana FRG
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Panamá PAN
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Venezuela VEN
Venezuelan Antilles VNA
Windward Is. WIN
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Malaya MLY
Maluku MOL
Nicobar Is. NCB
Philippines PHI
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
Florida FLA NORTHERN AMERICA
Mexico Southeast MXT
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE

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.

Flowering 62 in flower of 115 examined

Proportion of examined Polystachya concreta in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 3 14 21% 8% to 48%
Feb 3 10 30% 11% to 60%
Mar 2 5 40% 12% to 77%
Apr 4 12 33% 14% to 61%
May 4 6 67% 30% to 90%
Jun 3 4 too few examined
Jul 11 12 92% 65% to 99%
Aug 7 9 78% 45% to 94%
Sep 10 10 100% 72% to 100%
Oct 5 14 36% 16% to 61%
Nov 6 11 55% 28% to 79%
Dec 4 8 50% 22% to 78%

Peak flowering in Sep. Each bar is the share of Polystachya concreta observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 62 of 115 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. One month has fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for it. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 868 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 12.8 °C 16.7 °C 22.0 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 25.0 °C 30.0 °C 32.0 °C
Annual rainfall 1,018 mm 1,492 mm 2,862 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 100 mm 140 mm 403 mm

It is not found anywhere that gets close to freezing. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 868 research-grade observations of Polystachya concreta that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 75 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.

  • Callista flavescens (Blume) Kuntze
  • Cranichis luteola Sw.
  • Dendrobium flavescens (Blume) Lindl.
  • Dendrobium parvum Seidenf.
  • Dendrobium polystachyon Sw.
  • Dendrobium polystachys Thouars
  • Dendrobium polystachyum Sw.
  • Dendrobium polystachyum Thouars
  • Dendrorchis estrellensis (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorchis extinctoria (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorchis jussieuana (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorchis minuta (Aubl.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorchis polystachyon (Lindl.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorchis purpurea (Wight) Kuntze
  • Dendrorchis rufinula (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorchis shirensis (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorchis similus (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorchis tessellata (Lindl.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorchis wightii (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorchis zollingeri (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorkis extinctoria (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorkis jussieuana (Rchb.f.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorkis minuta (Aubl.) Kuntze
  • Dendrorkis polydendris Thouars

and 51 more.

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. 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.