''Ponerorchis cucullata'', formerly ''Neottianthe cucullata'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Orchidaceae, native to temperate Eurasia from Poland to

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 also to the Himalayas. It is terrestrial, growing from tubers, to a height of up to 30 cm, with pinkish flowers arranged in a one-sided spike. It was placed in several different

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

before a study in 2014 showed that it belonged in an expanded ''

Ponerorchis ''Ponerorchis'' is a genus of Asian terrestrial tuberous orchids (family Orchidaceae). It is native to temperate Eurasia, from Poland to Japan, to the north of the Indian subcontinent and to northern Indochina. They can be found in evergreen for ...

''.

Description

''Ponerorchis cucullata'' grows from more or less ellipsoid tubers. It reaches a height of around 10–30 cm. It has two basal leaves, 5–7 cm long by 1.5–3 cm wide. One or two smaller

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 ...

-like leaves occur further up the stem. The pinkish flowers are arranged in a one-sided spike. The lip or labellum is 7–9 mm long and is deeply divided into three lobes, the middle lobe being the longest. The sepals and lateral

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 about 1 mm shorter than the labellum, and together form a "hood". A spur is present, about 6 mm long, slightly expanded at the tip. The viscidia are not enclosed in a "sac" or bursicle.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 as ''Orchis cucullata''. It was subsequently transferred to a number of genera, including '' Gymnadenia'' and '' Habenaria'', before being placed in ''Neottianthe'' in 1919. A

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study in 2014 found that species of ''Neottianthe'', ''Amitostigma'' and ''

'' were mixed together in a single

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

, making none of the three genera

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...

as then

circumscribed In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius. Not every polyg ...

. ''Neottianthe'' and ''Amitostigma'' were subsumed into ''Ponerorchis'', with this species becoming ''Ponerorchis cucullata''.

Distribution

''Ponerorchis cucullata'' has a very wide distribution in temperate regions of Eurasia. In Europe, it is native to Poland and Eastern Europe. In Asia, it is found in Siberia, the Russian Far East, Mongolia,

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 Korea. It is also found in the Himalayas including Nepal.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q43372357, from2=Q164254, from3=Q21977691 cucullata Flora of China Flora of East Himalaya Flora of Eastern Europe Flora of Japan Flora of Korea Flora of Mongolia Flora of Nepal Flora of Poland Flora of Siberia Flora of the Russian Far East Flora of West Himalaya Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus