Paphiopedilum - Taxonomy and Systematics

Taxonomy and Systematics

The genus name Paphiopedilum was established by Ernst Hugo Heinrich Pfitzer in 1886; it is derived from Paphos (a city on Cyprus, a place sacred to Aphrodite. It was said she had landed at the site when rose from the sea.) and Ancient Greek pedilon "slipper". Ironically, no paphiopedilum occurs on Cyprus – at least not as the genus is understood today. But it was long mixed up with its Holarctic relative Cypripedium, which indeed grows in the Mediterranean region. Paphiopedilum was finally decided to be a valid taxon in 1959, but its use has become restricted to eastern Asian species in our time.