Elythranthera

Enamel orchid
Pink enamel orchid Elythranthera emarginata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Orchidoideae
Tribe: Diurideae
Subtribe: Caladeniinae
Genus: Elythranthera
(Endl.) A.S.George[1]

Elythranthera, commonly known as enamel orchids, is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It contains two species and a named hybrid, all endemic to Western Australia.[2]

Description

Orchids in the genus Elythranthera are terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, sympodial herbs with a few inconspicuous, fine roots and a tuber partly surrounded by a fibrous, multi-layered protective sheath. Like orchids in the genus Cyanicula, the tuber does not produces "droppers" - instead replacing itself within the same cavity. There is a single hairy convolute leaf at the base of the plant. The leaf is narrow egg-shaped, 2–8 cm (0.8–3 in) long, about 7 mm (0.3 in) wide, simple and lacks lobes and serrations.[3][4]

There are up to four resupinate flowers on a stalk 12–30 cm (5–10 in) high. The three sepals and two petals are free and similar in size and shape to each other. They are glossy and pink to purple in colour. As is usual in orchids, one petal is highly modified as the central labellum. The labellum is small and membranous with two large, black calli. The sexual parts of the flower are fused to the column, which has broad, wing-like structures forming a hood over the stamen and stigma. Flowering occurs from late winter to early summer, depending on species. The fruit that follows flowering is a non-fleshy, dehiscent capsule containing up to 500 seeds.[3][4]

Taxonomy and naming

Stephan Endlicher first formally described Glossodia brunonis in 1839, publishing the description in Novarum Stirpium Decades , and including it in the Section Elythranthera.[5][6] In 1963, Alex George raised the section to the genus Elythranthera in Western Australian Naturalist and renamed Glossodia emarginata (originally named by John Lindley)[7][8] Elythranthera emarginata.[1]

The name Elythranthera is derived from the Ancient Greek word elytron meaning "cover", "sheath" or "husk"[9] and the Latin word anthera meaning "the pollen-bearing part of a stamen"[10] referring to the column wings.[11]

Ecology

The two species of enamel orchid flower at slightly different times and are thought to be pollinated by the same species of native bee, accounting for the rare hybrids that have been found between the two orchid species.[3]

Distribution and habitat

Enamel orchids usually form colonies and are found in heath, shrubland and woodland, in coastal swamps and along creek lines from near Kalbarri south and east to Israelite Bay on the south coast.[3][12][13][14]

References

  1. 1 2 "Elythranthera emarginata". APNI. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  2. ↑ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  3. 1 2 3 4 Hoffman, Noel; Brown, Andrew (2011). Orchids of South-West Australia. (3rd ed.). Gooseberry Hill: Noel Hoffman. pp. 206–209. ISBN 9780646562322.
  4. 1 2 "Elythranthera". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  5. ↑ "Glossodia brunonis". APNI. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  6. ↑ Endlicher, Stephan (1839). Novarum Stirpium Decades (Volume 2). Vienna. p. 16. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  7. ↑ "Glossodia emarginata". APNI. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  8. ↑ Lindley, John (1840). A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony (Appendix) (PDF). Piccadilly, London: James Ridgway. pp. 50–51. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  9. ↑ Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 703.
  10. ↑ Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 93.
  11. ↑ "Biological Nomenclature of Orchids". G'day from W.A. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  12. ↑ "Elythranthera brunonis". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  13. ↑ "Elythranthera emarginata". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  14. ↑ "Elythranthera × intermedia". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
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