Anthogonium gracile
| Anthogonium gracile | ||||||||||||
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Drawing of Anthogonium gracile from the third volume of William Griffith's Icones Plantarum Asiaticarum |
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Anthogonium | ||||||||||||
| Wall. ex Lindl. | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Anthogonium gracile | ||||||||||||
| Wall. |
Anthogonium gracile is a species of orchid from Southeast Asia. It is the only species in the genus Anthogonium . The small plants grow in grasslands, bushes and on the edges of forests. Characteristic and eponymous for the genus is an almost right-angled kink between the ovary and the petals.
description
The herbaceous plants grow mostly terrestrial, rarely lithophytic , they are up to 55 cm high. The stem axis is mostly completely underground, it is either round, bulbous, thickened or elongated-spindle-shaped, measures one to two centimeters in diameter and consists of three to four internodes . The old tuber will rot a few months after the new one is formed. Two to three, rarely up to five leaves are at the upper end of the shoot, they are linear to lanceolate in shape, and are slightly folded (plicate) along the protruding leaf veins. The length of the leaf blade is 7 to 45 cm, the width 1 to 2, rarely up to 3.5 cm. The leaves are pointed and the base is petiolate. The leaf bases encompassing each other form a 3 to 22 cm high false stem.
Several erect, hairless inflorescences emerge from the side of the shoot and tower above the leaves. The inflorescence axis is whitish, light green or brownish, covered with several brownish bracts encompassing the stem . Most of the inflorescence is racemose , rarely branched, it contains about four to eight flowers . The bracts are reddish, later brown, oval to lanceolate in shape and tapering to a point, about four millimeters long. The ovary and flower stalk together measure 1.5 to 2 cm, the ovary points upwards and the flower cover slightly downwards. The flowers are not resupinated and are pink to almost white in color. The sepals are lanceolate, in their lower half grown together for about seven millimeters and forming a tube, in the front part free and spread out. The lateral petals (16 × 2 mm) are also fused together at their base, spatulate, the front part spread out until turned back. The lip measures about 16 mm in length. At the base it is fused with the column , there it is narrowed in a wedge shape, the front part, however, is wider and three-lobed. The lip is marked lengthways with a dark red mark. The column (16 mm long) is white to pink, curved at the top. The stamen is yellow, it contains four pollinia in two counters. The pollinia are soft, they have neither stems nor adhesive discs. the resulting capsule fruit is cigar-shaped. The seeds are spindle-shaped, long and narrow.
The number of chromosomes is given as 2n = 38, 2n = 40 and 2n = 42.
distribution
Anthogonium gracile is common in Southeast Asia. On the southern edge of the Himalayas, the area extends from Nepal eastwards across northeast India, to Myanmar, Laos, northern Thailand, to northern Vietnam and southern China. The plants grow at altitudes of (900) 1200-2300 (3100) meters. It is rather dry grassland, savannas, bushes and forest edges populated.
Systematics and botanical history
Within the subfamily Epidendroideae , Anthogonium is classified in the tribe Arethuseae . Related genera are Arethusa , Arundina , Calopogon and Eleorchis . While these genera have either a bulbous, thickened or slender stem axis, Anthogonium occupies a mediating position, as this characteristic is variable.
The species was mentioned in 1832 by Nathaniel Wallich and scientifically described by John Lindley in 1840 . The name Anthogonium is made up of Anthos , "flower", and gonia , "angle" and refers to the kink between the ovary and the petals. Two other species, which Reichenbach and Schlechter described later, are now considered synonymous with Anthogonium gracile .
supporting documents
The information in this article comes from:
- Chen Xinqi, Jeffrey J. Wood: Anthogonium . In: Wu Zhengyi, Peter H. Raven (Ed.): Flora of China . 25 Orchidaceae (Draft). Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis ( efloras.org - 1994+).
- Alec M. Pridgeon, Phillip Cribb, Mark W. Chase (Eds.): Genera Orchidacearum. Epidendroideae (Part one) . 2nd Edition. tape 4/1 . Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford 2005, ISBN 0-19-850712-7 , pp. 12-14 .
The following are also cited:
- ^ J. Lindley: The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants . P. 425. 1840. Scan from botanicus.org
