''Zeuxine'', commonly known as verdant jewel orchids, is a

genus 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 nom ...

of about eighty species of

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of floweri ...

s in the tribe Cranichideae. They are

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 parts of tropical

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and some

Pacific Islands Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

. They have relatively narrow, dark green leaves and small, dull-coloured

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 wor ...

flowers with the

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal c ...

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 coine ...

and

petal Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corolla''. Petals are usuall ...

s overlapping to form a hood over the

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression (physical), compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column i ...

. The labellum has a pouched base and its tip has two lobes.

Description

Orchids in the genus ''Zeuxine'' are

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widel ...

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

sympodial Sympodial growth is a bifurcating branching pattern where one branch develops more strongly than the other, resulting in the stronger branches forming the primary shoot and the weaker branches appearing laterally. A sympodium, also referred to a ...

herbs 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 medicina ...

with a fleshy, creeping, above-ground

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow ...

anchored by wiry roots. The leaves are thinly textured and stalked, arranged in a rosette at the base of the flowering stem or scattered along it. Small, resupinate dull-coloured flowers are often crowded along the short flowering stem which usually has protruding

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 o ...

s. The dorsal sepal and petals overlap, forming a hood over the column. The

lateral Lateral is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Healthcare *Lateral (anatomy), an anatomical direction * Lateral cricoarytenoid muscle * Lateral release (surgery), a surgical procedure on the side of a kneecap Phonetics *Lateral co ...

sepals overlap the base of the labellum which is usually white, has a pouched base and a number of stalkless

glands In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream ( endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface ( exocrine gland). Structure ...

. The column is short with two stigmas.

Taxonomy and naming

The genus ''Zeuxine'' was first formally described in 1826 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 ...

who gave it the name ''Zeuxina'' but ''Zeuxine'' is the nom. cons. The description was published in the appendix of ''Collectanea Botanica''. The name ''Zeuxine'' is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

word ''zeuxis'' meaning "joining" or "yoking" in apparent reference to either the partly fused column or to the

pollinia A pollinium (plural pollinia) is a coherent mass of pollen grains in a plant that are the product of only one anther, but are transferred, during pollination, as a single unit. This is regularly seen in plants such as orchids and many species of mil ...

Distribution and habitat

Plants in the genus ''Zeuxine'' usually grow in dark, moist forests where the humidity is always high or near swamps and seepage areas. They occur in tropical regions between Africa and Asia, in Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia and some Pacific Islands. Fourteen species are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to China and ten in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. ''

Zeuxine strateumatica ''Zeuxine strateumatica'', common names lawn orchid or soldier orchid, is a species of terrestrial orchids. It is widespread across much of Asia, including China, Japan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Iran, the Indian Subcontinent, Afghanistan, and ...

'' is

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

on the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost ...

and in the south-eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

List of species

The following is a list of species of ''Zeuxine'' recognised by the ''

World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected pla ...

'' as at August 2018: *'' Zeuxine affinis'' (Lindl.) Benth. ex Hook.f. *'' Zeuxine africana'' Rchb.f. *'' Zeuxine agyokuana'' Fukuy. *'' Zeuxine amboinensis'' (J.J.Sm.) J.J.Sm. *'' Zeuxine andamanica'' King & Pantl. *'' Zeuxine arisanensis'' Hayata *'' Zeuxine baliensis'' J.J.Sm. *'' Zeuxine ballii'' P.J.Cribb *'' Zeuxine bifalcifera'' J.J.Sm. *'' Zeuxine blatteri'' C.E.C.Fisch. *'' Zeuxine bougainvilleana'' Ormerod *'' Zeuxine chowdheryi'' Av.Bhattacharjee & Sabap. *'' Zeuxine clandestina'' Blume *'' Zeuxine cordata'' (Lindl.) Ormerod *'' Zeuxine curvata'' Schltr. *'' Zeuxine diversifolia'' Ormerod *'' Zeuxine elatior'' Schltr. *'' Zeuxine elmeri'' (Ames) Ames *'' Zeuxine elongata'' Rolfe *'' Zeuxine erimae'' Schltr. in K.M.Schumann & C.A.G.Lauterbach *'' Zeuxine exilis'' Ridl. *'' Zeuxine flava'' (Wall. ex Lindl.) Trimen *'' Zeuxine fritzii'' Schltr. *'' Zeuxine gengmanensis'' (K.Y.Lang) Ormerod *'' Zeuxine gilgiana'' Kraenzl. & Schltr. *'' Zeuxine glandulosa'' King & Pantl. *'' Zeuxine goodyeroides'' Lindl. *'' Zeuxine gracilis'' (Breda) Blume *'' Zeuxine integrilabella'' C.S.Leou *'' Zeuxine kantokeiensis'' Tatew. & Masam. *'' Zeuxine kutaiensis'' J.J.Sm. *'' Zeuxine lancifolia'' (Ames) Ormerod *'' Zeuxine leucoptera'' Schltr. *'' Zeuxine leytensis'' (Ames) Ames *'' Zeuxine lindleyana'' T.Cooke *'' Zeuxine longilabris'' (Lindl.) Trimen *'' Zeuxine lunulata'' P.J.Cribb & J.Bowden *'' Zeuxine macrorhyncha'' Schltr. *'' Zeuxine madagascariensis'' Schltr. *'' Zeuxine marivelensis'' (Ames) Ames *'' Zeuxine membranacea'' Lindl. *'' Zeuxine mindanaensis'' (Ames) Ormerod *'' Zeuxine montana'' Schltr. in K.M.Schumann & C.A.G.Lauterbach *'' Zeuxine mooneyi'' S.Misra *'' Zeuxine nervosa'' (Wall. ex Lindl.) Benth. ex Trimen *'' Zeuxine niijimai'' Tatew. & Masam. *'' Zeuxine oblonga'' R.S.Rogers & C.T.White *'' Zeuxine odorata'' Fukuy. *'' Zeuxine ovalifolia'' L.Li & S.J.Li *'' Zeuxine ovata'' (Gaudich.) Garay & W.Kittr. *'' Zeuxine palawensis'' Tuyama *'' Zeuxine palustris'' Ridl. *'' Zeuxine papillosa'' Carr *'' Zeuxine parvifolia'' (Ridl.) Seidenf. *'' Zeuxine petakensis'' J.J.Sm. *'' Zeuxine philippinensis'' (Ames) Ames *'' Zeuxine plantaginea'' (Rchb.f.) Benth. & Hook.f. ex Drake *'' Zeuxine purpurascens'' Blume *'' Zeuxine reflexa'' King & Pantl. *'' Zeuxine regia'' (Lindl.) Trimen *'' Zeuxine reginasilvae'' Ormerod *'' Zeuxine rolfiana'' King & Pantl. *'' Zeuxine rupestris'' Ridl. *'' Zeuxine samoensis'' Schltr. *'' Zeuxine stammleri'' Schltr. *'' Zeuxine stenophylla'' (Rchb.f.) Benth. & Hook.f. ex Drake *''

'' (L.) Schltr. *'' Zeuxine tenuifolia'' Tuyama *'' Zeuxine tjiampeana'' J.J.Sm. *'' Zeuxine tonkinensis'' Gagnep. *'' Zeuxine triangula'' J.J.Sm. *'' Zeuxine vietnamica'' Aver. *'' Zeuxine violascens'' Ridl. *'' Zeuxine viridiflora'' (J.J.Sm.) Schltr. **'' Zeuxine viridiflora'' var. ''latifolia'' J.J.Sm. **'' Zeuxine viridiflora'' var. ''viridiflora''. *'' Zeuxine weberi'' (Ames) Ames *'' Zeuxine wenzelii'' (Ames) Ormerod

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q782311 Cranichideae genera