''Aphyllorchis'', commonly known as pauper orchids or as 無葉蘭屬/无叶兰属 (wu ye lan shu), is a genus of about twenty species of terrestrial leafless orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus have fleshy, upright stems and small to medium-sized

resupinate Resupination is derived from the Latin word ''resupinus'', meaning "bent back with the face upward" or "on the back". "Resupination" is the noun form of the adjective "resupine" which means "being upside-down, supine or facing upward". The word " ...

flowers with narrow sepals and

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s. They are

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to a region extending from India east to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, south to Indonesia, New Guinea and Queensland.

Description

Orchids in the genus ''Aphyllorchis'' are leafless, terrestrial,

mycotroph A mycotroph is a plant that gets all or part of its carbon, water, or nutrient supply through symbiotic association with fungi. The term can refer to plants that engage in either of two distinct symbioses with fungi: *Many mycotrophs have a mut ...

herbs In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

. A few to many flowers are borne on an erect, usually fleshy, unbranched flowering stem. The flowers are

, more or less cup-shaped with the sepals and

s free from each other and similar in length but with the dorsal sepal curving forwards. The labellum is larger than the sepals and petals, boat-shaped and divided into two main sections, an upper "epichile" and lower "hypochile". The epichile is attached to the base of the

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

and the hypochile often with two lobes and turned downwards.

Taxonomy and naming

The genus ''Aphyllorchis'' was first formally described in 1825 by Carl Ludwig Blume and the description was published in his book '' Tabellen en Platen voor de Javaansche Orchideeen''. The name ''Aphyllorchis'' is derived from the Ancient Greek words ''aphyllos'' meaning "without leaves" and ''orchis'' meaning "testicle" or "orchid".

List of species

The following is a list of species of ''Aphyllorchis'' recognised by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families as at October 2018: *''

Aphyllorchis acuminata ''Aphyllorchis'', commonly known as pauper orchids or as 無葉蘭屬/无叶兰属 (wu ye lan shu), is a genus of about twenty species of terrestrial leafless orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus have fleshy, upright stems an ...

J.J.Sm. Johannes Jacobus Smith (Antwerp 29 June 1867 – Oegstgeest 14 January 1947) (sometimes written as Joannes Jacobus Smith) was a Dutch Botany, botanist who, between years 1905 to 1924, crossed the islands of the Dutch East Indies (mainly Java (isl ...

*''

Aphyllorchis alpina ''Aphyllorchis'', commonly known as pauper orchids or as 無葉蘭屬/无叶兰属 (wu ye lan shu), is a genus of about twenty species of terrestrial leafless orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus have fleshy, upright stems an ...

'' King & Pantl. *''

Aphyllorchis angustipetala ''Aphyllorchis'', commonly known as pauper orchids or as 無葉蘭屬/无叶兰属 (wu ye lan shu), is a genus of about twenty species of terrestrial leafless orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus have fleshy, upright stems an ...

*''

Aphyllorchis anomala ''Aphyllorchis anomala'', commonly known as the simple pauper orchid, is a leafless terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has up to twenty white flowers with purple markings on a deep purple flowering stem and grows in sha ...

'' Dockrill *''

Aphyllorchis arfakensis ''Aphyllorchis'', commonly known as pauper orchids or as 無葉蘭屬/无叶兰属 (wu ye lan shu), is a genus of about twenty species of terrestrial leafless orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus have fleshy, upright stems ...

*''

Aphyllorchis caudata ''Aphyllorchis'', commonly known as pauper orchids or as 無葉蘭屬/无叶兰属 (wu ye lan shu), is a genus of about twenty species of terrestrial leafless orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus have fleshy, upright stems ...

'' Rolfe ex

Downie Downie or Downey is a surname. There appears to be a number of sources of the Downie/Downey surname in Scotland and Ireland, with the intermittent mix in Ulster. The spelling of the surname as Downie is almost unique to Scotland with minor instance ...

*'' Aphyllorchis elata''

Schltr. Friedrich Richard Rudolf Schlechter (16 October 1872 – 16 November 1925) was a German taxonomist, botanist, and author of several works on orchids. He went on botanical expeditions in Africa, Indonesia, New Guinea, South and Central America a ...

*'' Aphyllorchis evrardii'' Gagnep. *''

Aphyllorchis exilis ''Aphyllorchis'', commonly known as pauper orchids or as 無葉蘭屬/无叶兰属 (wu ye lan shu), is a genus of about twenty species of terrestrial leafless orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus have fleshy, upright stems ...

*'' Aphyllorchis gollani'' Duthie *'' Aphyllorchis halconensis'' Ames *'' Aphyllorchis kemulensis''

*'' Aphyllorchis maliauensis'' Suetsugu,

Suleiman Suleiman (Arabic language, Arabic: سُلِيمَان ''sulaymān''; or dictionary.reference.comsuleiman/ref>) is the Arabic name of the Quranic king and Islam, Islamic prophet Solomon (name), Solomon meaning "man of peace", derived from the Heb ...

& Tsukaya *''

Aphyllorchis montana ''Aphyllorchis'', commonly known as pauper orchids or as 無葉蘭屬/无叶兰属 (wu ye lan shu), is a genus of about twenty species of terrestrial leafless orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus have fleshy, upright stems an ...

Rchb.f. Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach (Dresden, 3 January 1823 – Hamburg, 6 May 1889) was a botanist and the foremost German orchidologist of the 19th century. His father Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (author of ''Icones Florae Germanicae et Helve ...

** ''Aphyllorchis montana'' var. ''montana'' ** ''Aphyllorchis montana'' f. ''pingtungensis'' T.P.Lin ** ''Aphyllorchis montana'' var. ''rotundipetala'' ( C.S.Leou, S.K.Yu & C.T.Lee) T.P.Lin *''

Aphyllorchis pallida ''Aphyllorchis'', commonly known as pauper orchids or as 無葉蘭屬/无叶兰属 (wu ye lan shu), is a genus of about twenty species of terrestrial leafless orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus have fleshy, upright stems an ...

'' Blume *''

Aphyllorchis queenslandica ''Aphyllorchis queenslandica'', commonly known as the yellow pauper orchid, is a leafless Terrestrial plant, terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the Family (biology), family Orchidaceae. It has up to twelve dull yellow flowers on a thin, fleshy, ...

'' Dockrill *'' Aphyllorchis siantanensis''

*'' Aphyllorchis simplex''

Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

& F.T.Wang *'' Aphyllorchis spiculaea''

*'' Aphyllorchis striata'' (

Ridl. Henry Nicholas Ridley CMG (1911), MA (Oxon), FRS, FLS, F.R.H.S. (10 December 1855 – 24 October 1956) was an English botanist, geologist and naturalist who lived much of his life in Singapore. He was instrumental in promoting rubber trees ...

)

*''

Aphyllorchis sumatrana ''Aphyllorchis'', commonly known as pauper orchids or as 無葉蘭屬/无叶兰属 (wu ye lan shu), is a genus of about twenty species of terrestrial leafless orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus have fleshy, upright stems ...

*'' Aphyllorchis yachangensis'' Ying Qin & Yan Liu

Distribution and habitat

Most species in the genus ''Aphyllorchis'' grows at low altitudes in wet forests, often near streams. They are found in India,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand,

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia. Two species are endemic to tropical Queensland and one to China.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20844 Neottieae genera Orchids of India Orchids of China Orchids of Japan Orchids of Thailand Orchids of Vietnam Orchids of Malaysia Orchids of Indonesia Orchids of the Philippines Orchids of New Guinea Orchids of Queensland Myco-heterotrophic orchids Terrestrial orchids