''Cryptostylis'', commonly known as tongue orchids, is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s from 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. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

. Tongue orchids are

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. 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 o ...

herbs Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnish (food), garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typi ...

with one to a few stalked leaves at the base of the flowering stem, or leafless. One to a few dull coloured flowers are borne on an erect flowering stem. The most conspicuous part of the flower is the labellum, compared to the much reduced

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 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s and

petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

s. At least some species are

pollinated Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or butterflies; bird ...

by wasps when they attempt to mate with the flower. There are about twenty five species found in

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Description

Orchids in the

''Cryptostylis'' are terrestrial,

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

herbs with a thick, branching underground

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

with vertical shoots forming at nodes. The plant has thick, fleshy roots but lacks a

tuber Tubers are a type of enlarged structure that plants use as storage organs for nutrients, derived from stems or roots. Tubers help plants perennate (survive winter or dry months), provide energy and nutrients, and are a means of asexual reproduc ...

. There are one to a few erect leaves, each with a distinct

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

and often purple on the lower surface, although '' C. hunteriana'' is

saprophytic Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi ...

and leafless. New leaves are produced each year after flowering but each leaf has a life of several years. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

with from one to a few non-resupinate

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s. The sepals and petals (apart from the labellum) are narrow, free from and similar to each other. The most conspicuous part of the flower is the labellum which is attached to the base of the

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

and closely surrounds it. The fruit is a thin-walled capsule containing a large number of light coloured seeds.

Taxonomy and naming

''Cryptostylis'' was first formally described in 1810 by the prolific Scottish botanist,

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

and the description was published in his book, ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a book by the botanist Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and ...

''. Brown described three species in the same publication (''C. longifolia'', '' C. ovata'' and '' C. erecta'') but did not nominate a

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

species. (''Cryptostylis longifolia'' is an

illegitimate name ''Nomen illegitimum'' (Latin for illegitimate name) is a technical term used mainly in botany. It is usually abbreviated as ''nom. illeg.'' Although the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants uses Latin terms as qualif ...

and the species is now known as '' C. subulata''.) The name ''Cryptostylis'' is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

words ''kryptos'' meaning "hidden" and ''stylos'' meaning "pillar" or "column", referring to the column of these orchids which is partly hidden by the labellum. Molecular study of the DNA of tongue orchids shows the genus lies within the tribe

Diurideae Diurideae is a tribe of orchid in the subfamily Orchidoideae. It contains about 40 accepted genera. , its division into subtribes remained unclear. Genera Chase et al. (2015) accepted the following genera. Some have since been combined. *'' Ac ...

within the orchid family, having previously been considered part of the Cranichideae. The

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

''Cryptostylis'' and ''

Coilochilus ''Coilochilus'' is a genus of terrestrial orchids containing only one species, ''Coilochilus neocaledonicum'', endemic to New Caledonia. This monotypic genus was described by German botanist Rudolf Schlechter in 1906 and is now placed in the subt ...

'' (endemic to

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

) make up the subtribe Cryptostylidinae.

Distribution and habitat

The genus comprises around twenty five species of terrestrial orchid distributed from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

through

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, as well as

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

, New Caledonia and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

. Five species are found in Australia, of which three are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

. Tongue orchids occur from

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of the Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ran ...

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

regions and in well-drained to swampy sites. ''

Cryptostylis arachnites ''Cryptostylis'', commonly known as tongue orchids, is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid Family (biology), family. Tongue orchids are Terrestrial plant, terrestrial Herbaceous plant, herbs with one to a few stalked leaves at the base o ...

'' has the widest distribution and grows in

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

, often in mountainous areas.

Ecology

All Australian species are pollinated by the

ichneumon Ichneumon may refer to: * ''Ichneumon'' (genus), a genus of wasps * ''Ichneumon'', species of wasps in the family Ichneumonidae * Ichneumon, an alternative name for the Egyptian mongoose * Ichneumon (medieval zoology) In medieval literature, th ...

wasp known as the orchid dupe wasp ('' Lissopimpla excelsa''). The male wasp mistakes the flower parts for a female wasp and attempts to copulate with it. Although the different species can occur together, they appear to inhibit cross-fertilisation and no hybrids are found in nature. This discovery was made by Australian naturalist Edith Coleman in 1928, and the term coined was "

pseudocopulation Pseudocopulation is a behavior similar to Copulation (zoology), copulation that serves a reproductive function for one or both participants but does not involve actual sexual union between the individuals. It is most generally applied to a pollin ...

". The mimicking of flowers to resemble female wasp parts has since been recorded in other orchid genera but only in ''Cryptostylis'' has the insect been observed ejecting

seminal fluid Semen, also known as seminal fluid, is a bodily fluid that contains spermatozoa which is secreted by the male gonads (sexual glands) and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals. In humans and placental mammals, seminal fluid i ...

containing

sperm Sperm (: sperm or sperms) is the male reproductive Cell (biology), cell, or gamete, in anisogamous forms of sexual reproduction (forms in which there is a larger, female reproductive cell and a smaller, male one). Animals produce motile sperm ...

cells. Coleman suggested that the males are more strongly attracted to the orchid flowers than to female wasps of the same species. The flowers of ''Cryptostylis'' orchids and female wasp body parts are very similar in colour when viewed under a

hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic. Females typi ...

n visual system, despite looking different to human eyes. Although the colours that ichneumon wasps see are unknown, bees and wasps have similar perception with green, blue and ultraviolet wavelengths. The ''Cryptostylis'' orchids are unusual in that several species are pollinated by the same wasp species; other orchids which

mimic In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. In the simples ...

insects are often species-specific. The flowers have no smell detectable to humans, but have been shown to have an odour which attracts the orchid dupe wasp. Furthermore, gas chromatography and electrophysiology show that the single active compound for pollinator attraction is found in different species of ''Cryptostylis''.

Species

Species currently accepted as of July 2018: *''

Cryptostylis acutata ''Cryptostylis'', commonly known as tongue orchids, is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family. Tongue orchids are terrestrial herbs with one to a few stalked leaves at the base of the flowering stem, or leafless. One to a few dull co ...

'' J.J.Sm. - Java, Borneo, Sumatra *'' Cryptostylis apiculata'' J.J.Sm. - New Guinea *''

'' (Blume) Hassk. in C.L.Blume - Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, Cambodia, Assam, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Andaman Islands, Solomon Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Vanuatu *'' Cryptostylis arfakensis'' J.J.Sm. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis carinata'' J.J.Sm. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis clemensii'' (Ames & C.Schweinf.) J.J.Sm. - Sabah *'' Cryptostylis concava'' Schltr. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis conspicua'' J.J.Sm. - Thailand, Malaysia, Java, Sumatra *''

Cryptostylis erecta ''Cryptostylis erecta'', commonly known as the bonnet orchid or tartan tongue orchid , is an orchid Endemism, endemic to south eastern Australia. A small and common plant, it has dark green lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves and up to twelve gree ...

'' R.Br. - Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria *'' Cryptostylis filiformis'' Blume - Java *'' Cryptostylis gracilis'' Schltr. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis hamadryas'' Schltr. - New Guinea *''

Cryptostylis hunteriana ''Cryptostylis hunteriana'', commonly known as the leafless tongue-orchid is a flowering plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to south eastern Australia. It is leafless but has up to ten green flowers with a more or less erect, ...

'' Nicholls - Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria *'' Cryptostylis javanica'' J.J.Sm. - Java *'' Cryptostylis lancilabris'' Schltr. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis leptochila'' F.Muell. ex Benth. - Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania *'' Cryptostylis ligulata'' J.J.Sm. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis maculata'' (J.J.Sm.) J.J.Sm. - New Guinea *''

Cryptostylis ovata ''Cryptostylis ovata'', commonly known as slipper orchid or western tongue orchid, is an orchid endemic to Western Australia. It is a common, summer flowering species with dark green leaves with a white central vein and up to fifteen pale green ...

'' R.Br. - Western Australia *'' Cryptostylis sigmoidea'' J.J.Sm. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis sororia'' Schltr. - New Guinea *'' Cryptostylis subulata'' (Labill.) Rchb.f. - Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, New Zealand North Island *''

Cryptostylis taiwaniana ''Cryptostylis'', commonly known as tongue orchids, is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family. Tongue orchids are terrestrial herbs with one to a few stalked leaves at the base of the flowering stem, or leafless. One to a few dull co ...

'' Masam. - Taiwan, Philippine

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1955406 Diurideae genera Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)