''Dienia ophrydis'', commonly known as the common snout orchid
or 无耳沼兰 (wu er zhao lan)
is a plant in the
orchid family and is
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
endemic to a broad area of
Asia,
Southeast Asia, the
Philippines,
New Guinea and northern
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 ...
. It is a
deciduous,
terrestrial orchid with a cone-shaped stem, bright green, wavy leaves and many greenish, brown, reddish or purplish flowers crowded on a wiry flowering stem.
Description
''Dienia ophrydis'' is a terrestrial, deciduous
herb
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 fleshy, cone-shaped stems and wide. There are between three and six bright green, broadly lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves long and wide with wavy edges. A large number of greenish, brown, reddish or purplish, non-
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 are crowded along a brittle, wiry flowering stem long. The flowers are long and wide. The
dorsal sepal is narrow oblong, about long, wide and turns downwards. The
lateral sepals are egg-shaped, about long and wide and curve around the
labellum. The
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 a linear in shape and similar in size to the sepals. The
labellum is broadly egg-shaped, about long and wide with three blunt teeth on the end, the middle one longest and with a deeply pouched base. Flowering occurs between December and April.
Taxonomy
The common snout orchid was first formally described in 1791 by
Johann Gerhard König Johann Gerhard König (29 November 1728 – 26 June 1785) was a Baltic German botanist and physician who served in the Tranquebar Mission, India before joining service under the Nawab of Arcot, and then the English East India Company. He collected ...
who gave it the name ''Epidendrum ophrydis'' and published the description in ''Observationes botanicae :sex fasciculis comprehensae''.
In 1997
Gunnar Seidenfaden changed the name to ''Dienia ophrydis''.
The
specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
(''ophrydis'') is derived from the
Ancient Greek word ''ophyrs'' meaning "brow" or "eyebrow".
Distribution and habitat
''Dienia ophrydis'' grows in wet forests, often near streams and swampy areas. It is the most widespread species in the genus and is found in China, Cambodia, Bhutan, India, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, New Guinea and northern Queensland.
References
External links
{{Taxonbar, from= Q5184241
ophrydis
Orchids of Asia
Orchids of New Guinea
Orchids of the Philippines
Orchids of Australia
Plants described in 1791