Mexipedium

Mexipedium is a monotypic genus of the Orchid family Orchidaceae, subfamily Cypripedioideae, consisting of only one species, Mexipedium xerophyticum. It is also the single genus of tribe Mexipedieae and subtribe Mexipediinae. This species was initially described as Phragmipedium xerophyticum by Soto Arenas, Salazar & Hágsater in 1990, but transferred to its own genus by Albert & Chase in 1992, in part based on results from DNA analysis. Mexipedium xerophyticum is known from a single location in Oaxaca, Mexico. Only seven plants were observed at the time of its discovery. Mexipedium was recently rediscovered in a nearby locality (Pérez-García, 2010).