The genus Cleistes Rich. ex Lindl. consists of species in the family Orchidaceae that occur from Costa Rica to Trinidad and Tropical South America. It is closely related to the genus Pogonia and many species were at one time included in that genus.
Cleistes bifaria (Fernald) Catling & Gregg in 2025 is considered to be a synonym of Cleistesiopsis bifaria (Fernald) Pansarin & F.Barros. It is one of the most striking orchids within its range. It grows along the wetter margins of flatwoods, wet prairies, seepage slopes, and moist meadows. There was once only one species in the southern United States, but after relatively recent DNA analysis, it has been divided into two species. This species occurs near the coast from Mississippi through the panhandle of Florida north to North Carolina with additional populations in uplands of Tennessee, North Carolina, and West Virginia. It is a species adapted to a fire influenced ecology and suffers somewhat from the suppression of natural burning in the southeast United States. It grows from a tuber with a height of up to 2 ft. Photos by Alani Davis of wild plants in Bay and Gulf Counties, Florida. The fifth picture shows how hard the foliage is to detect when not in flower and the sixth picture is of a nearly mature seed pod.
