''Dienia'', commonly called snout orchids, is a genus of six species of orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Plants in this genus are evergreen, mostly terrestrial plants with a fleshy, above ground stem, large, pleated leaves and small, 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 with thin 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. The labellum is short and tongue-like. The genus is distributed in Southeast Asia,

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 ...

, Micronesia and Melanesia.

Description

Orchids in the genus ''Dienia'' are evergreen, sympodial, mostly terrestrial plants with fleshy, above-ground stems, although a few species are

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

s. There are between three and six relatively large, thin, pleated leaves with their petioles wrapped around the stem. Small, non-resupinate flowers are borne along the end of the flowering stem. The flowers are green, brown, yellow, pink, or purple and have narrow sepals and petals. The sepals are oblong to egg-shaped and spread widely and the

s are usually narrower than the sepals. The labellum is relatively short with three lobes, the middle lobe tongue-like and the side lobes shorter and broad.

Taxonomy and naming

The genus ''Dienia'' was first formally described in 1824 by

John Lindley John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...

and the description was published in '' The Botanical Register''. The name ''Dienia'' is derived from the Ancient Greek word ''dienos'' meaning "two years", referring to the stems which last for two years.

List of species

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

Dienia carinata ''Dienia'', commonly called snout orchids, is a genus of six species of orchids in the family Orchidaceae. Plants in this genus are evergreen, mostly terrestrial plants with a fleshy, above ground stem, large, pleated leaves and small, non-r ...

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 ...

* '' Dienia cylindrostachya'' Lindl. * '' Dienia ophrydis'' ( J.Koenig) Seidenf. * '' Dienia shuicae'' ( S.S.Ying) T.P.Lin * '' Dienia truncicola'' (

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 ...

)

M.A.Clem. Mark Alwin Clements (b. 1949) is an Australian botanist and orchidologist. He obtained his doctorate at the Australian National University defending his thesis entitled ''Reproductive Biology in relation to phylogeny of the Orchidaceae, espe ...

D.L.Jones David Lloyd Jones (born 1944) is an Australians, Australian horticultural botanist and the author of many books and papers, especially on Australian orchids. Jones was born in Victoria (Australia), Victoria and in his youth was a student at Burnl ...

* '' Dienia volkensii'' (Schltr.) M.A.Clem. & D.L.Jones

Distribution

''Dienia'' are found in the Philippines,

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

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 ...

, the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Malesia, New Guinea and

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2269160 Malaxideae genera Terrestrial orchids Orchids of Asia Orchids of Oceania