Dracula (orchids)

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Dracula
Dracula ubangina

Dracula ubangina

Systematics
Order : Asparagales (Asparagales)
Family : Orchids (orchidaceae)
Subfamily : Epidendroideae
Tribe : Epidendreae
Sub tribus : Pleurothallidinae
Genre : Dracula
Scientific name
Dracula
Luer

The genus Dracula belongs to the orchid family (Orchidaceae). It was classified as a separate genus by the botanist Carlyle A. Luer in 1978, before it was considered to belong to the Masdevallia genus ( Masdevallia Section Saccilabiatae ). It includes about 130 mostly epiphytic species that are native to southern Mexico to Peru . The name means little dragon and pays homage to the species Dracula chimaera described by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach , as well as to the three outer petals that taper off like a tail and are reminiscent of flying bats (it is said that Luer has the publicity that he of the genus with this Name, later repented). The dark color and a matching smell were evidently created as an imitation of mushroom fruit bodies. The species of the genus are pollinated by flies that normally live on mushrooms.

description

The species of the genus Dracula are mostly epiphytic, more rarely terrestrial, herbaceous plants . They grow clumpy or with a creeping or ascending rhizome . The roots are surrounded by a velamen two or three layers thick . The shoot is covered by tubular lower leaves, at the end it has a single, thin, leathery leaf . The leaf is keeled along the midrib or provided with several longitudinal veins. The leaf shape is linear to elliptical, the leaf ends mostly pointed, the base of the leaf is narrowed like a stem. There are glandular hairs on both sides of the leaf.

Flower of Dracula iricolor

The racemose inflorescence usually contains several flowers that open one after the other , rarely it is single-flowered. The bracts of the flowers encircle the peduncle tubular. The ovary is hairless, the flowers are resupinated . The three outer bracts ( sepals ) are oval shaped, they end pointed or blunt and have a long extension. They have grown together to varying degrees. The lateral petals are small, elongated and have a gnarled texture. At the end they are pulled together into two warty pockets. The lip is spatulate and fleshy, it is articulately connected to the column . The column is semicircular in cross section, winged on the sides. It forms a "foot" on which the lip attaches. The stamen contains two laterally compressed pollinia , the stigma consists of one surface. Elliptical capsule fruits are formed.

distribution

The species of the genus Dracula are native to Central and South America, the range extends from southern Mexico to Peru. Most of the species are described from the countries of the Andean Belt. 72 species live in Colombia , 53 in Ecuador and only four in Costa Rica . The genus is missing z. B. in the Antilles , Venezuela , Bolivia and Brazil .

Most of the species are known from undisturbed tropical forests, only a few from secondary forests, they are mostly rare with a small distribution area. The genus is found at altitudes of 300 to 2,800 meters, but the greatest biodiversity is mainly in forests of the mountain rainforest level of around 1,500 to 2,500 meters.

ecology

The Dracula species are epiphytes in ever-damp forests, where they grow in a layer of moss or humus.

In some species, the flowers give off a mushroom odor. In Dracula chestertonii , the fragrances 1-octen-3-ol and 3-octanone were found, Dracula chimaera smells similar. The scent attracts flies as pollinators, which normally live on mushrooms. In individual cases, deceived flies even lay eggs. In the species Dracula lafleurii and Dracula felix , fruit flies (Drosophilidae) living on fungi were identified as pollinators. The pollination takes place here by a clamping mechanism of the column, which temporarily clamps the flies. An exception is Dracula sodiroi , which is pollinated by birds.

threat

The genera Dracula and Masdevallia are characterized by spectacular flowers in the otherwise inconspicuous sub-tribus Pleurothallidinae. This makes them popular with collectors and breeders, and some species are traded commercially. The existence of numerous species is threatened through illegal gathering and deforestation of tropical forests; fourteen of the species described may have already become extinct. The species are particularly endangered by their rarity and their mostly only small distribution area. Numerous species are only known from a single locality, more than two-thirds of the species from three or less. Trade restrictions through inclusion in the Washington Convention on Endangered Species (CITES) are being considered.

Dracula chestertonii
Dracula chimaera
Dracula diabola
Dracula erythrochaete
Dracula gorgona
Dracula lotax
Dracula minax
Dracula posadarum
Dracula robledorum
Dracula sijmii
Dracula simia
Dracula vampira
Dracula vespertilio

Systematics and botanical history

The genus Dracula belongs to the subtribe Pleurothallidinae . According to DNA analysis, it represents a monophyletic group. The genera Diodonopsis , Masdevallia , Porroglossum and Trisetella are closely related ; Dracula is the sister group to a clade from Masdevallia and Porroglossum . Within the Pleurothallidinae, Dracula is one of the youngest groups; accordingly, the individual species differ only slightly from one another at the level of DNA.

The genus was established in 1978 by Carlyle August Luer . Luer published several works on this genre, including a subdivision into sub-genres, sections , subsections and series. This division is unlikely to reflect the relationships among the species, but is considered useful for identification purposes.

The following alphabetical list of the genus Dracula includes 138 species and three natural hybrids that are accepted as valid by the scientists at Kew Gardens ', London.

And the hybrids:

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dracula Luer - Specimen Country Map. In: Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, accessed July 7, 2012 .
  2. ↑ a b Lorena Endara, David A. Grimaldi, Bitty A. Roy: Lord of the flies: Pollination of Dracula orchids. In: Lankesteriana 10 (1): 1-11. 2010. ( Online ; PDF file; 4.39 MB)
  3. ↑ after Clare Drinkell (2007): 586. Dracula cordobae, Orchidaceae. Curtis's Botanical Magazine, 24: 101-107. doi : 10.1111 / j.1467-8748.2007.00570.x
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h 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. 349-351 .
  5. ↑ Calderón Sáenz, Eduardo Farfán Camargo, Julián Camilo (2003): Especies de los géneros Dracula y Masdevallia (Orchidaceae) en Colombia. Biota Colombiana 4 (2): 187-201 ( PDF ).
  6. ^ Roman Kaiser (2006): Flowers and Fungi Use Scents to Mimic Each Other. Science 311: 806-807. doi : 10.1126 / science.1119499
  7. ↑ on breeding cf. Dracula Luer by Culturesheet.org ( Memento of the original from May 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / culturesheet.org
  8. ↑ Harold Koopowitz, Alan Thornhill, Mark Anderson (1993): Species distribution profiles of the neotropical orchids Masdevallia and Dracula (Pleurothallidinae, Orchidaceae); implications for conservation. Biodiversity and Conservation Volume 2, Number 6: 681-690, doi : 10.1007 / BF00051967
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by bz ca cb cc cd ce cf cg ch ci cj ck cl cm cn co cp cq cr cs ct cu cv cw cx cy cz da db dc dd de df dg dh di dj dk dl dm dn do dp dq dr ds dt du dv dw dx dy dz ea eb ec ed ee ef eg Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Dracula. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved May 8, 2020.

Web links

Commons : Dracula  - album with pictures, videos and audio files