''Eulophila zollingeri'', commonly known as the carrion orchid or 无叶美冠兰 (wu ye mei guan 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 areas from tropical and

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

Asia to Queensland. It is a leafless, brownish terrestrial orchid with up to forty reddish brown, sharply scented flowers with a dark red and yellow labellum. It grows in decaying wood in and near rainforests.

Description

''Eulophia zollingeri'' is a terrestrial

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 an underground pseudobulb. It has no green leaves but fleshy, pointed

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 on the flowering stem. Between six and forty reddish brown flowers long and wide are borne on a flowering stem tall. The flowers have a sharp, unpleasant odour. The dorsal sepal is elliptic to oblong in shape, long, wide and curves forward. The lateral sepals are more or less oblong in shape, long, wide and have a pointed tip. 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 lance-shaped, long, wide. The labellum is dark red, yellow on the outside, oblong to egg-shaped, long, wide and has three lobes. The middle lobe curves downward and has short, thick hairs whilst the side lobes are erect. Flowering occurs between December and February in Australia and from April to May in

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 ...

Taxonomy and naming

The carrion orchid was first formally described in 1857 by Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach who gave it the name ''Cyrtopera zollingeri'' and published the description in ''Bonplandia''. In 1905, Johannes Jacobus Smith changed the name to ''Eulophia zollingeri''.

Distribution and habitat

''Eulophia zollingeri'' grows in and near the edges rainforest where there is rotting wood. It occurs in

, Taiwan, India, Indonesia,

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 ...

, Malaysia, New Guinea, the Philippines,

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, Vietnam and tropical northern Queensland.

References

{{Taxonbar, from= Q11046741 zollingeri Plants described in 1822 Orchids of China Orchids of Taiwan Orchids of India Orchids of Indonesia Orchids of Japan Orchids of Malaysia Orchids of New Guinea Orchids of the Philippines Orchids of Sri Lanka Orchids of Thailand Orchids of Vietnam Orchids of Queensland