''Cryptostylis'', commonly known as tongue orchids, is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s from the

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

. Tongue orchids are terrestrial

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 ...

with one to a few stalked leaves at the base of the flowering stem, or leafless. One to a few dull coloured flowers are borne on an erect flowering stem. The most conspicuous part of the flower is the labellum, compared to the much reduced

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s 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. At least some species are pollinated by wasps when they attempt to mate with the flower. There are about twenty five species found in

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

and the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Description

Orchids in the

''Cryptostylis'' are terrestrial,

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herbs with a thick, branching underground

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

with vertical shoots forming at

nodes In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a Vertex (graph theory), vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics *Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two ...

. The plant has thick, fleshy roots but lacks a

tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing ...

. There are one to a few erect leaves, each with a distinct petiole and often purple on the lower surface, although '' C. hunteriana'' is saprophytic and leafless. New leaves are produced each year after flowering but each leaf has a life of several years. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

with from one to a few non-resupinate

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s. The sepals and petals (apart from the labellum) are narrow, free from and similar to each other. The most conspicuous part of the flower is the labellum which 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 closely surrounds it. The fruit is a thin-walled capsule containing a large number of light coloured seeds.

Taxonomy and naming

''Cryptostylis'' was first formally described in 1810 by the prolific Scottish botanist, Robert Brown and the description was published in his book, '' Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen''. Brown described three species in the same publication (''C. longifolia'', '' C. ovata'' and '' C. erecta'') but did not nominate a

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

species. (''Cryptostylis longifolia'' is an illegitimate name and the species is now known as '' C. subulata''.) The name ''Cryptostylis'' is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

words ''kryptos'' meaning "hidden" and ''stylos'' meaning "pillar" or "column", referring to the column of these orchids which is partly hidden by the labellum. Molecular study of the DNA of tongue orchids shows the genus lies within the tribe

Diurideae Diurideae is a tribe of orchid in the subfamily Orchidoideae. It contains about 40 accepted genera. , its division into subtribes remained unclear. Genera Chase et al. (2015) accepted the following genera. Some have since been combined. *''Acia ...

within the orchid family, having previously been considered part of the

Cranichideae Cranichideae is an orchid tribe in the subfamily Orchidoideae. See also * Taxonomy of the Orchidaceae The taxonomy of the Orchidaceae (orchid family) has evolved slowly during the last 250 years, starting with Carl Linnaeus who in 1753 recogniz ...

. The

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

''Cryptostylis'' and ''

Coilochilus ''Coilochilus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It contains only one known species, ''Coilochilus neocaledonicum'', endemic to New Caledonia. Its closest relative is ''Cryptostylis'',Kores, P. J., M. Molvray, P. ...

'' (endemic to

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

) make up the subtribe Cryptostylidinae.

Distribution and habitat

The genus comprises around twenty five species of terrestrial orchid distributed from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

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 ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

through

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, as well as

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, New Caledonia and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

. Five species are found in Australia, of which three are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

. Tongue orchids occur from

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

regions and in well-drained to swampy sites. '' Cryptostylis arachnites'' has the widest distribution and grows in

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

, often in mountainous areas.

Ecology

All Australian species are pollinated by the ichneumon wasp known as the orchid dupe wasp (''

Lissopimpla excelsa ''Lissopimpla excelsa'', commonly known as the orchid dupe wasp, is a wasp of the family Ichneumonidae native to Australia. Although also found in New Zealand, where it is known as the dusky-winged ichneumonid, it has probably been introduced the ...

''). The male wasp mistakes the flower parts for a female wasp and attempts to copulate with it. Although the different species can occur together, they appear to inhibit cross-fertilisation and no hybrids are found in nature. This discovery was made by Australian naturalist

Edith Coleman Edith Coleman (1874–1951) was an Australian natural history, naturalist and nature writer who made important observations on pollination syndromes in Australian plant species. Early life Coleman was born Edith Harms on 29 July 1874 in Woking, ...

in 1928, and the term coined was " pseudocopulation". The mimicking of flowers to resemble female wasp parts has since been recorded in other orchid genera but only in ''Cryptostylis'' has the insect been observed ejecting

seminal fluid Semen, also known as seminal fluid, is an organic bodily fluid created to contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads (sexual glands) and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize the female ovum. Semen i ...

containing

sperm Sperm is the male reproductive cell, or gamete, in anisogamous forms of sexual reproduction (forms in which there is a larger, female reproductive cell and a smaller, male one). Animals produce motile sperm with a tail known as a flagellum, whi ...

cells. Coleman suggested that the males are more strongly attracted to the orchid flowers than to female wasps of the same species. The flowers of ''Cryptostylis'' orchids and female wasp body parts are very similar in colour when viewed under a

hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

n visual system, despite looking different to human eyes. Although the colours that ichneumon wasps see are unknown, bees and wasps have similar perception with green, blue and ultraviolet wavelengths. The ''Cryptostylis'' orchids are unusual in that several species are pollinated by the same wasp species; other orchids which

mimic MIMIC, known in capitalized form only, is a former simulation computer language developed 1964 by H. E. Petersen, F. J. Sansom and L. M. Warshawsky of Systems Engineering Group within the Air Force Materiel Command at the Wright-Patterson AFB in ...

insects are often species-specific. The flowers have no smell detectable to humans, but have been shown to have an odour which attracts the orchid dupe wasp. Furthermore, gas chromatography and electrophysiology show that the single active compound for pollinator attraction is found in different species of ''Cryptostylis''.

Species

Species currently accepted as of July 2018: *'' Cryptostylis acutata'' J.J.Sm. - Java, Borneo, Sumatra *'' Cryptostylis apiculata'' J.J.Sm. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis arachnites'' (Blume) Hassk. in C.L.Blume - Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, Cambodia, Assam, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Andaman Islands, Solomon Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Vanuatu *'' Cryptostylis arfakensis'' J.J.Sm. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis carinata'' J.J.Sm. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis clemensii'' (Ames & C.Schweinf.) J.J.Sm. - Sabah *'' Cryptostylis concava'' Schltr. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis conspicua'' J.J.Sm. - Thailand, Malaysia, Java, Sumatra *''

Cryptostylis erecta ''Cryptostylis erecta'', commonly known as the bonnet orchid or tartan tongue orchid , is an orchid endemic to south eastern Australia. A small and common plant, it has dark green lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves and up to twelve greenish flower ...

'' R.Br. - Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria *'' Cryptostylis filiformis'' Blume - Java *'' Cryptostylis gracilis'' Schltr. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis hamadryas'' Schltr. - New Guinea *''

Cryptostylis hunteriana ''Cryptostylis hunteriana'', commonly known as the leafless tongue-orchid is a flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to south eastern Australia. It is leafless but has up to ten green flowers with a more or less erect, d ...

'' Nicholls - Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria *'' Cryptostylis javanica'' J.J.Sm. - Java *'' Cryptostylis lancilabris'' Schltr. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis leptochila'' F.Muell. ex Benth. - Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania *'' Cryptostylis ligulata'' J.J.Sm. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis maculata'' (J.J.Sm.) J.J.Sm. - New Guinea *''

Cryptostylis ovata ''Cryptostylis ovata'', commonly known as the slipper orchid or western tongue orchid, is an orchid endemic to Western Australia. It is a common, summer flowering species with dark green leaves with a white central vein and up to fifteen pale gre ...

'' R.Br. - Western Australia *'' Cryptostylis sigmoidea'' J.J.Sm. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis sororia'' Schltr. - New Guinea *''

Cryptostylis subulata ''Cryptostylis subulata'', commonly known as the large tongue orchid, duckbill orchid or cow orchid, is a common and widespread orchid in south eastern Australia and New Zealand. It has relatively large, leathery, dark green to yellowish-green le ...

'' (Labill.) Rchb.f. - Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, New Zealand North Island *'' Cryptostylis taiwaniana'' Masam. - Taiwan, Philippine

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1955406 Diurideae genera Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)