''Bromheadia finlaysoniana'', commonly known as the pale reed orchid and as ''Bromheadia pulchra'' in Australia, is a plant in the

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 flowerin ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

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

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

to northern Australia. It is a

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 ...

orchid with a tough upright, stem and stiffly spreading, elliptic to egg-shaped leaves. There is a long flowering stem with a short zig-zag section near the end where single flowers open in succession. The flowers are white with a yellow labellum. Bromheadia pulchra

Description

''Bromheadia finlaysoniana'' is a

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...

herb with flattened yellowish stems long with tough, stiffly spreading elliptic to egg-shaped leaves long and wide. The flowering stems is long with a short zig-zag end where up to seventy five single white flowers open in succession. The flowers are long, wide and are pinkish on the outside. The

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 ...

s are elliptic to egg-shaped, long and wide and the petals are egg-shaped and a similar length but broader than the sepals. The labellum is pale yellow, about long and wide and has three lobes, the side lobes erect. Flowering occurs between June and March in Australia and as late as October in

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 Torr ...

Taxonomy and naming

The pale reed orchid was first formally described in 1833 by John Lindley who gave it the name ''Grammatophyllum finlaysonianum'' and published the description in his book ''The genera and species of Orchidaceous plants''. In 1859, Friedrich Miquel changed the name to ''Bromheadia Finlaysoniana''. The specific epithet (''finlaysoniana'') honours

George Finlayson George Finlayson (1790–1823) was a Scottish naturalist and traveller. He was called one of the best naturalists of his day, and he was noted for his pioneering studies of the plants, animals, and people of southern Thailand and the Malay penin ...

who collected the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

Distribution and habitat

''Bromheadia finlaysoniana'' has a wide distribution that includes

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

, Laos,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, the Malay Peninsula,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, Sumatra,

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

, the

Moluccas The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located ...

, the

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupació ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, the

Anambas Islands Anambas Islands Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kepulauan Anambas) is a small archipelago of Indonesia, located northeast of Batam Island in the North Natuna Sea between the Malaysian mainland to the west and the island of Borneo to the east. Geograp ...

and possibly the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, although it's uncertain whether the specimens referred to the Philippines were actually collected there. It grows in wet areas, usually near streams, 0–200 metres altitude.Beasley, J. 2009. ''Plants of Cape York: The Compact Guide''. John Beasley, Kuranda, Qld., Australia. p. 166. . In Queensland, ''B. finlaysoniana'' grows from the top of the Cape York Peninsula in the north to

Hopevale Hope Vale (also known as Hopevale) is a town within the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and a coastal locality split between the Aboriginal Shire of Hope Vale and the Shire of Cook, both in Queensland, Australia. It is an Aboriginal community. I ...

in the south. A cDNA for the enzyme

dihydroflavonol 4-reductase In enzymology, a dihydrokaempferol 4-reductase () is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction :cis-3,4-leucopelargonidin + NADP+ \rightleftharpoons (+)-dihydrokaempferol + NADPH + H+ Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are cis-3,4 ...

has been cloned from ''B. finlaysoniana''.The isolation, molecular characterization and expression of dihydroflavonol 4-reductase cDNA in the orchid, Bromheadia finlaysoniana. Chye-Fong Liew, Chiang-Shiong Loh, Chong-Jin Goh and Saw-Hoon Lim, Plant Science, Volume 135, Issue 2, 10 July 1998, Pages 161–169,

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4973633 Adrorhizinae Flora of Brunei Least concern flora of Australia Orchids of Borneo Orchids of Myanmar Orchids of Cambodia Orchids of Queensland Orchids of Indonesia Orchids of Laos Orchids of Malaysia Orchids of New Guinea Orchids of Singapore Orchids of Sumatra Orchids of Thailand Orchids of Vietnam Plants described in 1833