Rhizanthella speciosa

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Rhizanthella speciosa
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Diurideae
Genus: Rhizanthella
Species:
R. speciosa
Binomial name
Rhizanthella speciosa

Rhizanthella speciosa is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family and is endemic to Barrington Tops in New South Wales. It is a mycoheterotrophic herb that spends its entire life cycle, including flowering, at or below the soil surface.

Contents

Description

Rhizanthella speciosa is a leafless, sympodial herb with a horizontal rhizome and underground stem probably similar to that of R. slateri . From October to early November, the plant produces a flower head 15–30 mm (0.59–1.18 in) wide containing fifteen to thirty-five flowers about 5 mm (0.20 in) in diameter. The flower heads are bright mauve to pinkish purple and are surrounded by sixteen to eighteen overlapping, fleshy, egg-shaped to triangular bracts 10–12 mm (0.39–0.47 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) wide. After pollination, the flower produces a fleshy, narrow cylindrical drupe that is pinkish to light maroon when ripe. [2] [3]

Taxonomy and naming

This species of underground orchid was discovered in 2016 by scientific illustrator Maree Elliot and formally described in 2020 by Mark Clements and David Jones in the journal Lankesteriana from material collected in Barrington Tops National Park. The specific epithet speciosa means "showy" or "splendid". [3] [4] [5]

Distribution and habitat

Rhizanthella speciosa was found under dense leaf litter in tall wet sclerophyll forest of the Barrington Tops National Park with Sydney blue gum, tallowood, and turpentine, and a well-developed rainforest subcanopy with Trochocarpa laurina and Synoum glandulosum . [2] [3]

Conservation status

As of 2020, only fifty plants in a single locality are known. The habitat where it grows is widespread, but searches have not uncovered other populations. Thus the species meets the "critically endangered" definition. The population's exact location is kept unpublished for its protection. [3] [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Rhizanthella slateri</i> Species of orchid

Rhizanthella slateri, commonly known as the eastern underground orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a mycoheterotrophic herb that spends most of its life under the soil surface, its flowers only sometimes appearing a few millimetres about ground level.

<i>Rhizanthella gardneri</i> Species of orchid plant

Rhizanthella gardneri, commonly known as western underground orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a herb that spends its entire life cycle, including flowering, at or below the soil surface. A head of up to 100 small reddish to cream-coloured, inward facing flowers surrounded by large, cream-coloured bracts with a horizontal rhizome is produced between May and July.

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

Rhizanthella, commonly known as underground orchids, is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae and is endemic to Australia. All are leafless, living underground in symbiosis with mycorrhizal fungi. The inflorescence is a head of flowers held at, or just above the ground but mostly covered by soil or leaf litter and little is known about the mechanism of pollination.

<i>Caladenia carnea</i> Species of orchid endemic to Australia

Caladenia carnea, commonly known as pink fingers, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to eastern and south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania. It has a single thin, green leaf and one to five white or pink flowers with red stripes and two rows of yellow-tipped "calli" on their labellum.

<i>Genoplesium plumosum</i> Species of orchid

Genoplesium plumosum, commonly known as the Tallong midge-orchid or plumed midge-orchid, is a species of orchid endemic to New South Wales. It is a small orchid only known from a few sites near the towns of Tallong and Wingello on the Southern Tablelands and is only relatively easy to find for about a month, when it flowers. It has been classified as "Endangered" under the EPBC Act.

<i>Caladenia fuscata</i> Species of orchid

Caladenia fuscata, commonly known as dusky fingers, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to eastern and south-eastern Australia, including Tasmania. It is a small ground orchid found in eucalyptus woodland and which flowers in September and October.

<i>Acianthus collinus</i> Species of flowering plant

Acianthus collinus, commonly known as hooded mosquito orchid or inland mosquito orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a terrestrial herb with a single, heart-shaped leaf and between two and nine translucent pinkish flowers with reddish markings and is found growing in colonies on sheltered slopes in open forest in on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range.

<i>Pterostylis barringtonensis</i> Species of orchid

Pterostylis barringtonensis, commonly known as the Barrington leafy greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. As with similar greenhoods, the flowering plants differ from those which are not flowering. The non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves on a short stalk but the flowering plants lack a rosette and have up to seven dark green flowers on a flowering stem with stem leaves. It is only known from Barrington Tops.

<i>Pterostylis praetermissa</i> Species of orchid

Pterostylis praetermissa, commonly known as the Mount Kaputar rustyhood is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It has a rosette of leaves and up to nine relatively small greenish and reddish-brown flowers with transparent "windows" and a reddish-brown, insect-like labellum.

Pterostylis riparia, commonly known as the streamside greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. Both flowering and non-flowering plants have a rosette of dark green, fleshy leaves. Flowering plants have a single, relatively large green, white and reddish-brown flower with a deeply notched sinus between hairy lateral sepals.

Pterostylis saxicola, commonly known as the Sydney plains rustyhood, or Sydney plains greenhood, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It has a rosette of leaves at its base and up to ten reddish-brown flowers with translucent "windows", relatively wide lateral sepals with short-pointed tips and a dark brown, fleshy, insect-like labellum.

Pterostylis subtilis, commonly known as the thin mountain greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to New South Wales. It has a rosette of leaves and when flowering a single translucent white flower with dark green lines, a narrow, deeply notched sinus between the lateral sepals and a curved, protruding labellum.

Prasophyllum crassum is a species of orchid endemic to South Australia. It has a single tube-shaped leaf and up to fifteen greenish and pinkish-brown flowers with a whitish labellum. It is a recently described plant, previously included with P. fitzgeraldii, but distinguished from that species by its smaller number of smaller, less colourful flowers and different labellum shape. It grows in the south-east of the state and usually only appears after fire.

Genoplesium bishopii, commonly known as the Gibraltar Range midge orchid, is a small terrestrial orchid endemic to New South Wales. It has a single thin leaf fused to the flowering stem and up to thirty small, dark purplish red flowers. It grows in heathy forest and on the edges of swamps in the Gibraltar Range National Park.

Genoplesium confertum, commonly known as the crowded midge orchid, is a small terrestrial orchid endemic to the south-east of Queensland. It has a single thin leaf fused to the flowering stem and up to sixty small, densely crowded, reddish and green flowers and grows in coastal heath.

Genoplesium morinum, commonly known as the mulberry midge orchid, is a species of small terrestrial orchid that is endemic to New South Wales. It has a single thin leaf fused to the flowering stem and up to twenty crowded, dark reddish purple flowers. It has been known as "mulberries on sticks".

Genoplesium superbum, commonly known as the pink midge orchid or superb midge orchid, is a species of small terrestrial orchid that is endemic to New South Wales. It has a single thin leaf and up to fifteen dark pinkish-purple flowers, which lean downwards. It is listed as "endangered" in New South Wales because of its limited distribution and disturbance of its habitat.

<i>Goodyera umbrosa</i> Species of orchid

Goodyera umbrosa, commonly known as the native jade orchid or green jewel orchid, is a species of orchid that is endemic to northern Queensland where it grows in highland rainforest. It has between four and eight large, egg-shaped leaves and up to ten small pale green or pinkish flowers with the dorsal sepal and petals forming a hood over the column.

Oberonia rimachila, commonly known as the channelled fairy orchid, is a plant in the orchid family and is a clump-forming epiphyte or lithophyte. It has between five and seven leaves in a fan-like arrangement on each shoot and a large number of pinkish flowers arranged in whorls of between eight and ten around the flowering stem. It is endemic to Queensland.

<i>Rhizanthella johnstonii</i> Species of orchid

Rhizanthella johnstonii, commonly known as south coast underground orchid, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a subterranean herb that has a horizontal rhizome and a head of up to sixty small white flowers with a pink tinge, surrounded by relatively large, cream-coloured to pale pinkish cream bracts.

References

  1. "Rhizanthella speciosa". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Rhizanthella speciosa". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Clements, Mark A.; Jones, David L. (30 July 2020). "Notes on Australasian Orchids 6: A new species of Rhizanthella (Diurideae, subtribe Prasophyllinae) from Eastern Australia". Lankesteriana. 20 (2): 221–227. doi: 10.15517/lank.v20i2.43271 .
  4. "Rhizanthella speciosa". APNI. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  5. 1 2 Allen, Craig (13 September 2020). "To protect this rare underground orchid, researchers are keeping its location top secret". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 28 September 2020.