''Didymoplexis'', commonly known as crystal orchids or as 双唇兰属 (shuang chun lan shu), 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 ...

of terrestrial leafless

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 ...

s in the

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 ...

Orchidaceae, about twenty species of which have been described. Orchids in this genus have swollen, fleshy

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 ...

s and thin, pale, upright fleshy flowering stems with

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 " ...

, bell-shaped white or pale yellowish brown flowers. 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 ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

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 ...

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 various islands of the Pacific.

Description

Orchids in the genus ''Didymoplexis'' are small, leafless, terrestrial,

mycotrophic 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 ...

with a swollen, fleshy rhizome. The flowering stem is thin, upright and fleshy with a few scale-like

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s fleshy and one to a few flowers. The flowers are resupinate, white or pale yellowish brown and often last for less than a day. The

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 are joined at the base to form a short, bell-shaped tube with the tips spreading widely. The labellum is relatively broad and has a band of calli along its midline.

Taxonomy and naming

The genus ''Didymoplexis'' was first formally described in 1843 by William Griffith and the description was published in the ''Calcutta Journal of Natural History''. The name ''Didymoplexis'' 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 ...

''didymos'' meaning "double" or "twin" and ''plexis'' meaning "twine", "twist" or "weave" referring to the interlocking calli on the labellum.

List of species

The following is a list of species of ''Didymoplexis'' recognised by the

World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected plan ...

as at October 2018: * '' Didymoplexis africana'' Summerh. - Ghana, Ivory Coast, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Tanzania * '' Didymoplexis avaratraensis'' Summerh. * '' Didymoplexis cornuta'' P.J.Cribb - Java, Borneo ** ''Didymoplexis cornuta'' var. ''betungkerihunensis'' Tsukaya & H.Okada ** ''Didymoplexis cornuta'' var. ''cornuta'' ** 'Didymoplexis cornuta'' var. ''maliauensis'' Tsukaya,

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 ...

& H.Okada * '' Didymoplexis flexipes''

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 ...

- Java * '' Didymoplexis himalaica''

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 ...

- Assam, Bhutan * '' Didymoplexis latilabris''

- Kalimantan * '' Didymoplexis micradenia'' (

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 ...

)

Hemsl. William Botting Hemsley (29 December 1843, in East Hoathly – 7 October 1924, in Kent) was an English botanist and 1909 Victoria Medal (horticulture), Victoria Medal of Honour recipient. He was born in East Hoathly, Sussex and in 1860 started wo ...

- Taiwan, Vietnam, Java, Maluku, New Guinea, Solomons, Fiji, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Samoa, Wallis & Futuna, Micronesia * '' Didymoplexis minor''

- Java * '' Didymoplexis obreniformis''

- Java ** ''Didymoplexis obreniformis'' var. ''maliauensis'' Suetsugu,

& Tsukaya ** ''Didymoplexis obreniformis'' var. ''obreniformis'' * '' Didymoplexis pachystomoides'' (

F.Muell. Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victo ...

) Garay & W.Kittr. - Queensland * '' Didymoplexis pallens''

Griff. William Griffith (4 March 1810 – 9 February 1845) was a British doctor, naturalist, and botanist. Griffith's botanical publications are from India and Burma. After a brief stay in Madras, he was assigned as a Civil Surgeon to Tenasserim, Bur ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and some Pacific and

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

islands * '' Didymoplexis philippinensis''

Ames Ames may refer to: Places United States * Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas * Ames, Colorado * Ames, Illinois * Ames, Indiana * Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name * Ames, Kansas * Ames, Nebraska * Ames, New York * Ames, Oklah ...

- Philippines * '' Didymoplexis recurvata'' P.J.Cribb - Philippines * '' Didymoplexis seidenfadenii'' C.S.Kumar & Ormerod - Kerala * '' Didymoplexis sirichaii'' Suddee * '' Didymoplexis striata''

- Java, Borneo * '' Didymoplexis torricellensis''

- New Guinea * '' Didymoplexis trukensis'' Tuyama - Micronesia * '' Didymoplexis verrucosa'' J.Stewart & Hennessy - KwaZulu-Natal, Madagascar * '' Didymoplexis vietnamica'' Ormerod - Guangxi, Vietnam

Distribution and habitat

Crystal orchids grow in grassy forest, bamboo thickets and rainforest in

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 ...

, southern

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

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

to southern

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 ...

and 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 ...

, throughout the

Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago (Indonesian/Malay: , tgl, Kapuluang Malay) is the archipelago between mainland Indochina and Australia. It has also been called the " Malay world," "Nusantara", "East Indies", Indo-Australian Archipelago, Spices Archipe ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

, Christmas Island, tropical Australia, and the southwest

Pacific islands Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

. Some also occur in South West Africa and

References

External links

IOSPE orchid photos, ''Didymoplexis pallens''Swiss Orchid Foundation at the Herbarium Jany Renz, ''Didymoplexis pallens'' Griff.Photo of ''Didymoplexis verrucosa'' in South Africa
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2159150 Gastrodieae genera Gastrodieae Myco-heterotrophic orchids