Please help with an ignorant question about native orchids; Prosthechea
 

Prosthechea - Genus Page - ISB: Atlas of Florida Plants


Does this mean that there are native (indigenous) orchids here or are they just found here?

I could not tell and I tried to cross reference “native florida orchids” and found one site that had NO Prosthechea and another that seemed to say only the cochleata is native.

I am confused

The page you referenced says those three species are native to Florida, meaning they occur naturally. The orange bar above the map says vouchered specimens from wild plants. Vouchered means there is an herbarium specimen. At the left - view USF herbarium specimens - you can see some specimens. I didn't click on the three species but I bet there are links to herbarium specimens for each.

You may want to check out Go Orchids: North American Orchid Conservation Center they have LOADS of good info on native and non-native orchids all across North America.

No, I don’t think it means they are natives
 

I can’t see anything on that page that says the three species are native.

If you type in a genus name which you know for certain is not native you get exactly the same page layout. I tried it with Eucalyptus, because I know they are native to the SW Pacific. Result here : Eucalyptus - Genus Page - ISB: Atlas of Florida Plants

Cheers
Arron

Look up the USDA Plants Database. It provides a lot of information on where you might find all kinds of plants. It has maps, and for some species the data is down to the county level. Àlso indicated is whether the plant is introduced or not.

Searching 'Prosthechea USDA Plants Database' will lead you to:
Plants Profile for Prosthechea (appendage orchid)

Note that if you track the symbols, to will see that the genus is native to the lower 48 states, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands. How weird is it that the common name is 'appendage orchid'?

The page for Prosthechea boothiana (Lindl.) W.E.Higgins var. erythronioides (Small) W.E.Higgins states the type was collected in Key Largo.

Prosthecheas cochleata and pygmaea are listed by Florida as endangered. They don't list introduced plants.

Thanks all! I figured I had to just do more cross referencing.


And yes, what a weird name!!!

I doubt anybody calls it "appendage orchid." That's an attempt to translate the genus name.