Cryptostylis

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Tongue orchids
Orchid Wallaroo track.JPG
Cryptostylis erecta
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Diurideae
Subtribe: Cryptostylidinae
Genus: Cryptostylis
R.Br.
Synonyms [1]
  • Chlorosa Blume
  • ZosterostylisBlume

Cryptostylis, commonly known as tongue orchids, is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family. Tongue orchids are terrestrial herbs with one to a few stalked leaves at the base of the flowering stem, or leafless. One to a few dull coloured flowers are borne on an erect flowering stem. The most conspicuous part of the flower is the labellum, compared to the much reduced sepals and petals. At least some species are pollinated by wasps when they attempt to mate with the flower. There are about twenty five species found in South Asia, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

Contents

Description

Orchids in the genus Cryptostylis are terrestrial, perennial herbs with a thick, branching underground rhizome with vertical shoots forming at nodes. The plant has thick, fleshy roots but lacks a tuber. There are one to a few erect leaves, each with a distinct petiole and often purple on the lower surface, although C. hunteriana is saprophytic and leafless. New leaves are produced each year after flowering but each leaf has a life of several years. [2] [3]

The inflorescence is a raceme with from one to a few non-resupinate flowers. The sepals and petals (apart from the labellum) are narrow, free from and similar to each other. The most conspicuous part of the flower is the labellum which is attached to the base of the column and closely surrounds it. The fruit is a thin-walled capsule containing a large number of light coloured seeds. [2] [3]

Taxonomy and naming

Cryptostylis was first formally described in 1810 by the prolific Scottish botanist, Robert Brown and the description was published in his book, Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen . Brown described three species in the same publication (C. longifolia, C. ovata and C. erecta ) but did not nominate a type species. (Cryptostylis longifolia is an illegitimate name and the species is now known as C. subulata .) [4] [5]

The name Cryptostylis is derived from the Ancient Greek words kryptos meaning "hidden" and stylos meaning "pillar" or "column", referring to the column of these orchids which is partly hidden by the labellum. [2]

Molecular study of the DNA of tongue orchids shows the genus lies within the tribe Diurideae within the orchid family, having previously been considered part of the Cranichideae. The genera Cryptostylis and Coilochilus (endemic to New Caledonia) make up the subtribe Cryptostylidinae. [6]

Distribution and habitat

The genus comprises around twenty five species of terrestrial orchid distributed from India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia through Indonesia to Australia and New Zealand, as well as Samoa, New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Five species are found in Australia, of which three are endemic. Tongue orchids occur from temperate to tropical regions and in well-drained to swampy sites. Cryptostylis arachnites has the widest distribution and grows in rainforest, often in mountainous areas. [2] [3]

Ecology

All Australian species are pollinated by the ichneumon wasp known as the orchid dupe wasp ( Lissopimpla excelsa ). The male wasp mistakes the flower parts for a female wasp and attempts to copulate with it. Although the different species can occur together, they appear to inhibit cross-fertilisation and no hybrids are found in nature. [7] This discovery was made by Australian naturalist Edith Coleman in 1928, and the term coined was "pseudocopulation". The mimicking of flowers to resemble female wasp parts has since been recorded in other orchid genera but only in Cryptostylis has the insect been observed ejecting seminal fluid containing sperm cells. Coleman suggested that the males are more strongly attracted to the orchid flowers than to female wasps of the same species. [2] [8] [9] The flowers of Cryptostylis orchids and female wasp body parts are very similar in colour when viewed under a hymenopteran visual system, despite looking different to human eyes. Although the colours that ichneumon wasps see are unknown, bees and wasps have similar perception with green, blue and ultraviolet wavelengths. [10]

The Cryptostylis orchids are unusual in that several species are pollinated by the same wasp species; other orchids which mimic insects are often species-specific. The flowers have no smell detectable to humans, but have been shown to have an odour which attracts the orchid dupe wasp. Furthermore, gas chromatography and electrophysiology show that the single active compound for pollinator attraction is found in different species of Cryptostylis. [11]

Species

Species currently accepted as of July 2018: [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<i>Aphyllorchis</i> Genus of flowering plants

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<i>Pholidota</i> (plant) Genus of orchids

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<i>Thelasis</i> Genus of orchids

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<i>Micropera</i> Genus of orchids

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<i>Octarrhena</i> Genus of orchids

Octarrhena, commonly known as grub orchids, is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Plants in this genus are small, orchids with short stems, thin roots, short, thick, fleshy leaves arranged in two ranks and tiny flowers. The labellum is rigidly attached to the base of the column. There are about fifty species native to areas from Sri Lanka and Malesia to the Western Pacific.

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<i>Schoenorchis</i> Genus of orchids

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<i>Cryptostylis hunteriana</i> Species of orchid

Cryptostylis hunteriana, commonly known as the leafless tongue-orchid is a flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to south eastern Australia. It is leafless but has up to ten green flowers with a more or less erect, dark reddish brown labellum.

<i>Cryptostylis erecta</i> Species of orchid

Cryptostylis erecta, commonly known as the bonnet orchid or tartan tongue orchid , is an orchid endemic to south eastern Australia. A small and common plant, it has dark green lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves and up to twelve greenish flowers with a large, bonnet-like or hood-like, lilac-coloured labellum with a network of purple veins.

<i>Cryptostylis subulata</i> Species of orchid

Cryptostylis subulata, commonly known as the large tongue orchid, duckbill orchid or cow orchid, is a common and widespread orchid in south eastern Australia and New Zealand. It has relatively large, leathery, dark green to yellowish-green leaves and up to twenty yellowish flowers with a reddish-brown and dark purple labellum. It is often found in damp or swampy situations but also occurs in drier places.

<i>Lissopimpla excelsa</i> Species of wasp

Lissopimpla excelsa, commonly known as the orchid dupe wasp, is a wasp of the family Ichneumonidae native to Australia. Although also found in New Zealand, where it is known as the dusky-winged ichneumonid, it has probably been introduced there. However, another source states that it may be native to New Zealand.

<i>Rhomboda</i> Genus of flowering plants

Rhomboda, commonly known as velvet jewel orchids, is a genus of about twenty species of flowering plants in the orchid family Orchidaceae. Plants in this genus are mostly terrestrial herbs with a fleshy, creeping rhizome and a loose rosette of green to maroon coloured leaves. Small resupinate or partly resupinate, dull coloured flowers are borne on a hairy flowering stem. The dorsal sepal and petals overlap and form a hood over the column and there is a deep pouch at the base of the labellum. They are found in tropical regions from northern India through Southeast Asia, China, Japan to Australia and some Pacific Islands.

<i>Cryptostylis leptochila</i> Species of orchid

Cryptostylis leptochila, commonly known as the small tongue orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has one to a few broad leaves and up to fifteen green flowers with a dark red labellum that has a black stripe and rows of black dots either side of the stripe. As with others in the genus, it is pollinated by male ichneumon wasps.

References

  1. 1 2 "Cryptostylis". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Pridgeon, Alec M.; Cribb, P.J.; Chase, M.A.; Rasmussen, F., eds. (2001). Genera Orchidacearum 2. Oxford University Press. pp. 118–25. ISBN   0-19-850710-0 . Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Weston, Peter H. "Genus Cryptostylis". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  4. "Cryptostylis". APNI. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  5. Brown, Robert (1810). Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. London. p. 317. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  6. Kores PJ, Molvray M, Weston PH, Hopper SD, Brown AP, Cameron KM, Chase MW (2001). "A phylogenetic analysis of Diurideae (Orchidaceae) based on plastid DNA sequence data". American Journal of Botany. 88 (10): 1903–14. doi:10.2307/3558366. JSTOR   3558366. PMID   21669623.
  7. Robert L. Dressler (1993). Phylogeny and classification of the orchid family. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 134. ISBN   0-521-45058-6 . Retrieved 22 November 2010.
  8. Peakall, Rod. "Pollination by Sexual Deception in Australian Terrestrial Orchids". Australian National University. Archived from the original on 13 September 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  9. Ledford, Heidi (2007). "The flower of seduction". Nature. 445 (7130): 816–817. doi: 10.1038/445816a . PMID   17314951. S2CID   833763.
  10. A. C. Gaskett; M. E. Herberstein (2010). "Colour mimicry and sexual deception by Tongue orchids (Cryptostylis)". Naturwissenschaften. 97 (1): 97–102. doi:10.1007/s00114-009-0611-0. PMID   19798479. S2CID   1729573.
  11. Schiestl, Florian P; Peakall, Rod; Mant, Jim (2004). "Chemical communication in the sexually deceptive orchid genus Cryptostylis". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 144 (2): 199–205. doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2003.00249.x .