Ludisia discolor
| Ludisia discolor | ||||||||||||
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_-_Bot._Reg._4_pl._271_(1818).jpg)
Representation of Ludisia discolor , from the first description in the Botanical Register of 1818 |
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Ludisia | ||||||||||||
| A.Rich. | ||||||||||||
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| Ludisia discolor | ||||||||||||
| ( Ker Gawl. ) Flower |
Ludisia discolor is a plant from the family of the orchid (Orchidaceae); for a long time it was the only species of the genus Ludisia . Only in 2013 was another species newly described: Ludisia ravanii .
description
They are small, perennial , herbaceous plants. The rhizome is fleshy, divided into internodes of equal length , red-brown in color. It is slightly constricted at the nodes. The leaves are also red-brown, the leaf veins are set off whitish, pink or yellow. The shape of the leaves is oval to broadly lanceolate, a short stem leads to the base of the leaf, which includes the stem axis.
The inflorescence appears terminal, it is hairy and has one to three bracts . Bracts and sepals are hairy on the outside. The small, white flowers are in a loose cluster . They are resupinated and twisted asymmetrically. The three sepals are spread out and not grown together. The lateral petals stand upright next to the dorsal sepal and adhere to the edge. The lip is twisted asymmetrically. The lower part is sack-like and fused at the edges with the column , it contains nectar. The central part of the lip forms a tubular access, the front part is expanded. The column is twisted in the opposite direction to the lip. It carries the yellow stamen , which is to a large extent enclosed by the tissue of the column (clinandrium). The stamen contains two yellow pollinia , these hang over small stalks on a common adhesive disc (Viscidium). The two surfaces of the stigma are connected, the separating tissue between stigma and stamen (rostellum) is triangular, after removing the adhesive disc it has two lobes.
Pollination is carried out by the butterfly Pleisoneura asmara . The pollinia stick to the insect's leg during the flower visit.
distribution
Ludisia discolor is found from the south of China south over the whole of rear India at altitudes up to 1300 meters. It grows in the shade of evergreen forests in places that are well supplied with water.
Systematics
The species was described in Edwards's Botanical Register by John Bellenden Ker Gawler in 1818 as Goodyera discolor . The epithet discolor alludes to the two-tone leaves. In 1825, Achille Richard established the generic name Ludisia . This name comes from Latin and means something like dancer or comedian. Richard did not, however, explicitly place the species discolor in his new genus; this was not done until Carl Ludwig Blume in 1858.
John Lindley ignored the first description by Ker-Gawler and described the same plant as Haemaria discolor in 1840 . In the period that followed, a large number of descriptions of this type were made. Today there are around 30 synonyms .
Ludisia belongs to the subtribe Goodyerinae . The closest related genera are Dossinia , Macodes and Papuaea .
Today the following species are known:
- Ludisia discolor (Ker Gawl.) Blume (Syn .: Goodyera discolor Ker Gawl. , Ludisia dawsoniana (H.Low ex Rchb.f.) Aver. , Ludisia odorata Blume ): It occurs from southern China to Sumatra and the Philippines.
- Ludisia ravanii Cootes & G.Tiong : It occurs in the Philippines.
Culture
It is a rare houseplant in Central Europe that flowers once a year. A bright, but not sunny place is ideal. The flowering time is mostly in the winter months. Since the orchid originally grows in tropical humid areas of the earth, the room temperature should be between 18 and 24 ° C, the humidity should not drop below 70% and the plant should always be kept moist.
The cultivar Ludisia discolor 'Dawsoniana', which is also incorrectly classified as the variety Ludisia discolor var. Dawsoniana , is usually commercially available . In addition, other varieties with different leaf patterns are already available.
literature
- Alec M. Pridgeon, Phillip Cribb, Mark W. Chase, Finn Rasmussen (Eds.): Genera Orchidacearum. Orchidoideae (Part 2). Vanilloideae . tape 3 , no. 2 . Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford 2003, ISBN 0-19-850711-9 , pp. 116-119 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Ludisia. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved July 3, 2018.
- ^ JB Ker Gawler: Goodyera discolor . In: Botanical Register, Vol. 4, No. 271, 1818. Scan from botanicus.org
