''Cryptostylis subulata'', commonly known as the large tongue orchid, duckbill orchid or cow orchid, is a common and widespread orchid in south eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It has relatively large, leathery, dark green to yellowish-green leaves and up to twenty yellowish flowers with a reddish-brown and dark purple labellum. It is often found in damp or swampy situations but also occurs in drier places.

Description

''Cryptostylis subulata'' is a terrestrial,

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 wide ...

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, aft ...

herb 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 medicinal ...

with leathery, dark green to yellowish-green leaves which sit on petioles that are anywhere from long. The leaves are lance-shaped and measure long and across. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s (flower spikes) appear from August to April and bear two to twenty individual flowers on a flowering stem which is tall. Each flower has three green

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 which are long, and two

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 which are long and narrower than the sepals. The labellum is a rolled reddish brown, purplish or yellowish tube-like structure measuring long by across. There is a dark purple

callus A callus is an area of thickened and sometimes hardened skin that forms as a response to repeated friction, pressure, or other irritation. Since repeated contact is required, calluses are most often found on the feet and hands, but they may o ...

ending in two knobs on the lower side of the labellum.

Taxonomy and naming

The large tongue orchid was first formally described in 1806 by

Jacques Labillardière Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (28 October 1755 – 8 January 1834) was a French biologist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the Jean-François de Galaup, comte ...

from a specimen collected in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. Labillardière gave it the name ''Malaxis subulata'' and published the description in ''

Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen ''Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen'' is a two-volume work describing the flora of Australia. Facsimiles of the originals can be found in the onlinBiodiversity Heritage Library (Vol.1)anVol 2) The author was the French botanist Jacques Labillar ...

''. In 1871 H.G. Reichenbach changed the name to ''Cryptostylis subulata''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''subulata'') is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the 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 the power of the ...

word ''subula'' meaning " awl".

Distribution and habitat

It is tolerant of a range of soils, from well-drained sandy heathland to swampy depressed areas, as well as dry eucalypt forest. It occurs mostly in coastal districts of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, although it is also found in the Blue Mountains. In New Zealand it is only known from swamps north of

Kaitaia Kaitaia ( mi, Kaitāia) is a town in the Far North District of New Zealand, at the base of the Aupouri Peninsula, about 160 km northwest of Whangārei. It is the last major settlement on New Zealand State Highway 1, State Highway 1. Ahipara ...

and

Taipa-Mangonui Taipa-Mangonui or Taipa Bay-Mangonui is a string of small resort settlements – Taipa, Cable Bay, Coopers Beach, and Mangōnui – that lie along the coast of Doubtless Bay and are so close together that they have run together to form one larger ...

Ecology

Like other Australian members of its genus, it is pollinated by the ichneumon wasp known as the orchid dupe wasp (''

Lissopimpla excelsa ''Lissopimpla excelsa'', commonly known as the orchid dupe wasp, is a wasp of the family Ichneumonidae native to Australia. Although also found in New Zealand, where it is known as the dusky-winged ichneumonid, it has probably been introduced the ...

''), the males of which mistake the flower parts for female wasps and copulate with it.

Use in horticulture

''Cryptostylis subulata'' has been successfully grown by orchid enthusiasts, but is slow growing. The rhizomes are delicate and resent disturbance, and need to be moist at all times.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5191071 subulata Orchids of New South Wales Orchids of Victoria (state) Orchids of South Australia Orchids of Tasmania Orchids of New Zealand Taxa named by Jacques Labillardière Plants described in 1806