Eriaxis rigida
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Eriaxis rigida |
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Eriaxis rigida is a plant from the family of orchids (Orchidaceae). It is the only species of the genus Eriaxis and isnativeto New Caledonia .
description
Eriaxis rigida is an herbaceous , terrestrial , perennial plant. Their roots are long, thick and brittle. The stem axis grows upright and is occasionally branched. A leaf arises at each node . The leaves are green, oval, leathery, have a thickened edge and reticulate leaf veins. The racemose inflorescence contains striking, resupinated flowers . The petals are not fused together. The three sepals are white, brown at the tip, all of the same size, wide spread, oval, thick, fleshy and have a densely hairy underside of the leaf. The petals are white or pale pink, oval, also spread out, thick, fleshy and hairless. The lip is three-lobed, white and has a magenta border. A row of yellowish scales and bristles runs in the middle along the lip. The side lobes stand upright and encircle the column . The column is curved, at its end it carries the stamen, which is strongly bent down compared to the column axis . The stamen is dome-shaped by the tissue of the column (clinandrium). The pollen is loosely in the form of individual pollen grains (monads) and is not stuck together to form pollinia . The ovary is three-chambered, hairy, white, coiled and ribbed. The capsule fruit is elongated and upright. It opens at six longitudinal septa and contains numerous seeds .
distribution
Eriaxis rigida is endemic to New Caledonia. The plants grow all over the island and on the Île des Pins, part of New Caledonia, at altitudes of 150 to 700 meters. They are less common at altitudes of 1250 meters and higher.
Systematics and botanical history
Eriaxis rigida is classified within the subfamily Vanilloideae in the tribe Vanilleae . Sister taxon is the Clematepistephium smilacifolium , which is also restricted to New Caledonia .
Eriaxis rigida was described by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach in 1877 .
The name Eriaxis comes from the Greek ἔριον erion "wool" and from the Latin axis "axis". It refers to the dense hairs of the inflorescence, the ovary and the sepals.
See also
literature
- Alec M. Pridgeon, Phillip Cribb, Mark W. Chase, Finn Rasmussen (Eds.): Genera Orchidacearum. Orchidoideae (Part 2). Vanilloideae . tape 3/2 . Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford 2003, ISBN 0-19-850711-9 , pp. 309-311 .
Web links
Wikispecies: Eriaxis rigida - species directory