Gastrodia sesamoides

Last updated

Cinnamon bells
Orchid Mackeral Track.jpg
Gastrodia sesamoides in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Tribe: Gastrodieae
Genus: Gastrodia
Species:
G. sesamoides
Binomial name
Gastrodia sesamoides

Gastrodia sesamoides, commonly known as cinnamon bells or common potato orchid in Australia [2] and as the pot-bellied orchid or cinnamon sticks in New Zealand, [3] is a leafless, terrestrial saprophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has a thin, fleshy brown flowering stem and up to twenty five drooping, brownish, self-pollinating flowers that are white inside. Growing in a wide range of habitats, it is native to Australia and New Zealand.

Contents

Description

Gastrodia sesamoides is a leafless, terrestrial saprophyte with an underground rhizome up to 80 mm (3 in) long and 30 mm (1 in) in diameter. The thin, fleshy brown flowering stem is 12–75 cm (5–30 in) tall with between three and six bracts 4–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) long and between three and twenty five flowers. The flowers are cinnamon brown to greyish brown and often rough on the outside, white inside with the sepals and petals joined to form a bell-shaped tube 15–20 mm (0.6–0.8 in) long. Each flower has a pedicel or "stalk" 2–10 mm (0.08–0.4 in) long and a cone-shaped ovary with the narrower end towards the base. The flowers often produce an appealing cinnamon-like scent. Flowering occurs from September to January in Australia and from August to May in New Zealand, but the flowers are self-pollinating. Flowering is enhanced by fire the previous summer. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Taxonomy and naming

Gastrodia sesamoides was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown and the description was published in his book Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae . [7] [8] The specific epithet (sesamoides) refers to a supposed similarity to the sesame plant, the ending -oides being a Latin suffix meaning "like", "resembling" or "having the form of". [9]

Distribution and habitat

Cinnamon bells is widespread and common, occurring south from the Darling Downs through the eastern half of New South Wales and the southern half of Victoria to Tasmania. It used to be found in the Sydney region but is now considered rare or extinct in that area. It is only found in the far southeast of South Australia, including on Kangaroo Island. It occurs on both the North and South Islands of New Zealand although only in the Marlborough and Nelson areas of the South Island. It grows in a wide variety of habitats, including forest and coastal scrub from lowland areas to subalpine habitats as long as there is adequate rainfall or soil moisture. In New Zealand it is often found in forestry plantations and in gardens where pine bark mulch is used. [2] [3] [5] [6] [10]

Ecology

Because the potato orchid does not produce chlorophyll it is unable to make its own food via photosynthesis. Alternatively, it has a complex relationship with a fungus. The orchid receives its nutrients from the fungus, and the fungus obtains its habitat from the orchid and minerals and sugars from the roots of other forest trees. [11]

Gastrodia sesamoides has been introduced to and is naturalised in South Africa. [12] [13]

Conservation

This orchid is common and widespread throughout most of its range but is classed as "rare" in South Australia. [14]

Uses

Use as food

Indigenous Australians ate the roasted tubers of this orchid and it may have been one of the principal plants used by Tasmanian Aborigines. [15] [16] An early Victorian settler reported that Aboriginal peoples located the plants in habitat by observing where bandicoots had scratched in search of the tubers after detecting the plants underground by scent. [17] The flavour of the tuber is said to resemble that of the beetroot, though insipid and watery. [15] [18]

Use in horticulture

Cultivation of Gastrodia sesamoides has yet to be achieved. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Caladenia</i> Genus of orchids

Caladenia, commonly known as spider orchids, is a genus of 350 species of plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Spider orchids are terrestrial herbs with a single hairy leaf and a hairy stem. The labellum is fringed or toothed in most species and there are small projections called calli on the labellum. The flowers have adaptations to attract particular species of insects for pollination. The genus is divided into three groups on the basis of flower shape, broadly, spider orchids, zebra orchids and cowslip orchids, although other common names are often used. Although they occur in other countries, most are Australian and 136 species occur in Western Australia, making it the most species-rich orchid genus in that state.

<i>Gastrodia</i> Genus of orchids

Gastrodia, commonly known as potato orchids or as 天麻属 , is a genus of terrestrial leafless orchids in the family Orchidaceae, about ninety of which have been described. Orchids in this genus have fleshy, upright stems and small to medium-sized resupinate flowers with narrow sepals and petals. They are native to Asia, Australia, New Zealand, central Africa, and various islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

<i>Dipodium punctatum</i> Species of orchid

Dipodium punctatum, commonly known as the blotched hyacinth-orchid, is a leafless orchid that is a native to eastern and south-eastern continental Australia. In summer it produces a tall flowering stem with up to sixty pale to bright pink flowers with heavy red blotches. A widespread and common species it is often confused with D. roseum and some authorities regard it as a synonym of D. squamatum.

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

Caleana, commonly known as duck orchids, is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae that is found in Australia and New Zealand. The Australian species are found in all states but have not been recorded in the Northern Territory. Duck orchids have a single leaf and one or a few, dull-coloured, inconspicuous flowers. Most species are found in Western Australia but one species occurs in eastern Australia and one occurs in eastern Australia and New Zealand. Orchids in this genus as well as the hammer orchids (Drakaea) are pollinated by male thynnid wasps.

<i>Calochilus paludosus</i> Species of orchid

Calochilus paludosus, commonly known as the red beard orchid or red beardie, is a species of orchid native to Australia and New Zealand. It has a single fleshy, light green leaf and up to nine greenish flowers with reddish stripes. The labellum has a dull red or coppery coloured beard and lacks the "eye" spots of other beard orchids.

<i>Dendrobium aemulum</i> Species of orchid

Dendrobium aemulum, commonly known as the ironbark feather orchid or white feather orchid, is an epiphytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae and grows on trees that retain their bark, especially ironbarks. It has reddish or purplish pseudobulbs, two to four leathery leaves and up to seven white, feathery flowers. It grows in open forest in Queensland and New South Wales.

<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>Orthoceras strictum</i> Species of orchid

Orthoceras strictum, commonly known as the bird's-mouth orchid or horned orchid, is a species of orchid native to eastern and southern Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia. It has between two and five linear leaves and up to nine yellowish green, brownish or blackish flowers with two long, erect to spreading lateral sepals.

<i>Microtis parviflora</i> Species of orchid

Microtis parviflora, commonly known as the slender onion-orchid, is a species of orchid which is native to Australia and New Zealand. It occurs in all states of Australia but is not known from the Northern Territory and may not occur in Western Australia. As with others in the genus, it has a single erect, smooth, tubular leaf and up to eighty flowers on an erect flower spike.

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

Caladenia alata, commonly known as the fairy orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is found in south-eastern Australia and New Zealand. It is a ground orchid with small, usually short-lived flowers, which have relatively stiffly held petals and sepals and reddish-purple bars on the labellum.

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

Caladenia minorata, commonly known as the small waxlip orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a ground orchid with a single very hairy leaf and one or two deep violet-blue flowers. It has been known as Glossodia minor since its description by the prolific Scottish botanist Robert Brown in 1810, but recent discoveries suggest its inclusion in the genus Caladenia. It is similar to Caladenia major but is smaller in all its parts.

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

Pterostylis parviflora, commonly known as the tiny greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to south-eastern Australia. As with similar orchids, the flowering plants differ from those which are not flowering. The non-flowering plants have a rosette of leaves but the flowering plants lack a rosette at the base but have up to eight tiny green, white and brown flowers.

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

Pterostylis ophioglossa, commonly known as the snake-tongue greenhood, is a species of orchid endemic to eastern Australia. It has a rosette of leaves at the base and a single dull green, white and brown flower with a deeply notched labellum.

<i>Thelymitra carnea</i> Species of orchid

Thelymitra carnea, commonly called the tiny sun orchid or pinkish sun orchid, is a species of orchid that is native to Australia and New Zealand. It has narrow, almost cylindrical leaves and up to four relatively small pale to deep pink flowers on a wiry, zig-zag stem.

Gastrodia crebriflora, commonly known as dense potato orchid, is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has a pale brown flowering stem and up to thirty five crowded, drooping, white to pale brown flowers. It is only known from the Blackdown Tableland in Queensland, Australia.

<i>Gastrodia entomogama</i> Species of orchid

Gastrodia entomogama, commonly known as the Brindabella potato orchid, is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has a dark brown or blackish flowering stem with up to sixty brown, warty, tube-shaped flowers. It is only known for certain from the Australian Capital Territory.

Gastrodia lacista, commonly known as the western potato orchid, is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has a thin brown flowering stem with up to fifty small, drooping, fawn and white, tube-shaped flowers. It grows in forest and woodland in the south-west of Western Australia.

<i>Gastrodia procera</i> Species of orchid

Gastrodia procera, commonly known as the tall potato orchid, is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has a robust, dark brown to blackish flowering stem with up to seventy cinnamon brown, tube-shaped flowers that are white inside. It grows in high rainfall forest in southeastern Australia.

Gastrodia urceolata, commonly known as white potato orchid, is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has a pale brown, fleshy flowering stem and up to fifty five upright, white to pale brown flowers. It is only known from a single population near Atherton in Queensland.

Gastrodia vescula, commonly known as small potato orchid, is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has a very thin, brittle, light brown flowering stem with up to three pale brown flowers that are white on the inside. It is only known from a small area near the border between South Australia and Victoria.

References

  1. "Gastrodia sesamoides". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Jones, David L. (2006). A complete guide to native orchids of Australia including the island territories. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: New Holland. p. 371. ISBN   1877069124.
  3. 1 2 3 "Gastrodia sesamoides". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  4. Fairley, Alan; Moore, Philip (2000). Native Plants of the Sydney District:An Identification Guide (2nd ed.). Kenthurst, NSW: Kangaroo Press. p. 390. ISBN   0-7318-1031-7.
  5. 1 2 "Gastrodia sesamoides". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  6. 1 2 Weston, Peter H. "Gastrodia sesamoides". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  7. "Gastrodia sesamoides". APNI. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  8. Brown, Robert (1810). Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen. London. p. 330. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  9. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 483.
  10. Robinson, Les (1991). Field guide to the native plants of Sydney. Kenthurst, N.S.W.: Kangaroo Press. pp. 127–128. ISBN   0864171927.
  11. "Potato orchid". Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  12. "Potato Orchid (Gastrodia sesamoides)". iNaturalist.org. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  13. "Gastrodia sesamoides". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  14. "Gastrodia sesamoides" (PDF). Government of South Australia Department for Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  15. 1 2 Cribb, Alan B.; Cribb, Joan W. (1974). Wild Food in Australia. Australia: Collins. p. 149. ISBN   0006344364.
  16. "Potato Orchid". Plant Use. Australian National Botanic Gardens. February 2003. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  17. "Potato orchid". Australian National Botanic Gardens. February 2003. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  18. "Potato Orchid". Aussie Gardening. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2011.