''Gastrodia gunatillekeorum'' is a new species of potato orchid discovered in Sinharaja rainforest and described in 2020. Each with less 100 mature individuals, only three small populations have been discovered as yet. This plant was named after Nimal Gunatilleke and Savithri Gunatilleke. It is morphologically similar to ''

Gastrodia spatulata ''Gastrodia spatulata'' is a species of ''Gastrodia'' native to Indonesia and Malaysia. It is known from Borneo and Java. Taxonomy It was first described by Cedric Errol Carr in 1935, from a dried specimen collected in the Penibukan range in ...

'', which is native to Indonesia, due to both species having a white flower with yellowish-orange colouring on the inner wall of the

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepals when ...

tube and the free part of perianth tube reflexed backwards. The two species however differ in respect to the

spathulate This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

to linear petals which are shorter than

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, fused only at the base and present inside the perianth tube; the labellum are elongate-elliptic and column broadest in the middle part in ''G. spatulata'', whereas the petals as long as sepals with apical 1/3rd part free (rest fused with sepals) and reflexed backwards, labellum rhomboid in shape, column broadest towards the apex in ''G. gunatillekeorum''. The only other ''Gastrodia'' species known from Sri Lanka is ''G. zeylanica'', a taller species without any yellow colouration in its dull white flowers.

References

{{Epidendroideae-stub gunatillekeorum Orchids of Sri Lanka Plants described in 2020