Anoectochilus Blume

Marbled jewel orchids (en)

Genus

Angiosperms > Asparagales > Orchidaceae

Characteristics

Herbs, terrestrial. Rhizome creeping, terete, several noded, fleshy; roots narrowly filiform to fibrous, villous, arising singly from rhizome nodes. Stem erect or ascending, with 1 to a few loose tubular sheaths at base, and a few clustered subrosulate leaves, glabrous. Leaves green to purplish black with white, pinkish, or golden reticulate venation on adaxial surface, ovate or elliptic, velvety and often slightly fleshy, with a long petiole-like base dilating into tubular amplexicaul sheath. Inflorescence erect, terminal, racemose, pubescent; peduncle with a few scattered sheathing bracts; rachis laxly 2-10-flowered. Flowers resupinate or not; ovary slender, twisted or not. Sepals free, similar, often widely spreading, outer surface usually pubescent; dorsal sepal forming a hood with petals. Petals obliquely ligulate-oblong, membranous; lip basally adnate to base of column, distinctly 3-partite, with an exserted conic to cylindric spur at base; hypochile subtubular, lateral margin erect; mesochile short to elongate, canaliculate, both external lateral margins with an entire, pectinate or filamentous flange; epichile entire to deeply 2-lobed, lobes divergent, rarely divided; spur containing a pair of irregular calli or septa. Column short, dorsally dilated, ventrally with 2 intramarginal, lamellate or fleshy appendages (wings); anther erect, ovoid, 2-locular; pollinia 2, clavate, sectile, granular-farinaceous, each attenuate into a narrow stalk attached to a solitary ovate viscidium; rostellum usually erect, remnant shortly bifid; stigma lobes 2, separate, convex, placed laterally toward apex of column. Capsule narrowly ellipsoid.
More
Deciduous, shade-loving, terrestrial orchids with creeping, above-ground stems. Leaves petiolate, broad, thin-textured, arranged in loose basal rosette, dark brownish purple with contrasting pattern of silvery, pinkish or reddish veins. Inflorescence terminal on a stem, spicate, short, few-flowered, hairy. Flowers resupinate, relatively large, hairy externally, dull-coloured, short-lasting. Dorsal sepal narrow, cucullate, overlapping petals to form a loose galea. Lateral sepals free, narrow, concave, spreading widely. Petals narrow, spreading. Labellum with a basal, pouch-like hypochile developed into an exerted spur that contains 2 sessile glands; epichil short, apex decurved, separated by narrowed section (mesochile) with in-rolled margins adorned with conspicuous teeth or coarse filaments. Pollinia 2, narrow, attached by common caudicle with without viscidium.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support -
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
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Root system creeping-root fibrous-root rhizome
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Environment

Plants grow on humus-covered rocks or among forest litter in friable soils on the forest floor in high rainfall regions.
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Hardiness (USDA) 8-12

Usage

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Edible -
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Cultivation

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