Gastrodia elata Blume

Tall gastrodia (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Asparagales > Orchidaceae > Gastrodia

Characteristics

Plants 30-100 cm, rarely to 200 cm tall. Rhizomes usually ellipsoid, 8-12 cm, stout, 3-5(-7) cm in diam., sometimes larger, fleshy, densely noded, with triangular or broadly ovate scales at nodes. Peduncle orange, yellow, grayish brown, or greenish, 25-80(-150) cm, with several membranous sheaths toward base; rachis 5-30(-50) cm, subdensely to densely 20-50-flowered; floral bracts oblong-lanceolate, 10-16 mm, often exceeding ovary, membranous, apex acuminate. Flowers suberect, resupinate, opening weakly, orange, pale yellow, bluish green, or yellowish white; pedicel and ovary 7-12 mm. Perianth tube urceolate, 8-10 × 5-7 mm, with a deep sinus between lateral sepals, base inflated, outer surface smooth; free portion of sepals ovate-triangular, 3-5 mm, apex obtuse; free portion of petals suboblong, smaller than sepal lobes, apex acute; lip obscurely 3-lobed, oblong-ovoid, 6-7 × 3-4 mm, glabrous, base clawed, apical margin irregularly fimbriate; claw with a pair of gibbous foldings; disk papillose, with a pair of fleshy reniform calli. Column 5-7 mm; column foot short. Capsule obovoid-ellipsoid, 14-18 × 8-9 mm. Fl. and fr. May-Jul. 2n = 24, 30, 36.
More
An evergreen shrubby orchid. It grows 60-100 cm high and spreads 30 cm wide. The roots are like tubers and 30-150 cm long. They are yellow-brown. The leaves are like small tear drops. The flowers are greenish-yellow or pale red. The fruit are round. The seeds are small.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support mycoheterotroph
Foliage retention evergreen
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) 0.3
Mature height (meter) 1.0
Root system rhizome
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

A tropical plant. It grows attached to wood. It grows in high latitudes or altitudes in China. In Yunnan. In Sichuan.
More
Woods in the mountains of N. Japan.
Light 1-6
Soil humidity 4-6
Soil texture 1-6
Soil acidity 3-7
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 6-9

Usage

The potato like rhizomes are boiled in water for tea or cooked with chicken for soup. They are also used in drinks and bread.
Uses food medicinal tea
Edible bulbs rhizomes roots tubers
Therapeutic use Headache (unspecified), Amnesia (unspecified), Aphrodisiac (unspecified), Apprehension (unspecified), Carminative (unspecified), Convulsion (unspecified), Diarrhea (unspecified), Fainting (unspecified), Fever (unspecified), Memory (unspecified), Myoneuralgia (unspecified), Neuralgia (unspecified), Neurasthenia (unspecified), Numbness (unspecified), Paralysis (unspecified), Rheumatism (unspecified), Vertigo (unspecified), Virility (unspecified), Restorative (unspecified), Spasm (unspecified), Arthritis (unspecified), Epilepsy (unspecified), Lumbago (unspecified), Nerves (unspecified), Tonic (unspecified), Circulation (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

It is cultivated on oak, willow or birch logs. These are inoculated with the fungus then covered with compost from the forest.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -15
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Gastrodia elata unspecified picture

Distribution

Gastrodia elata world distribution map, present in Chile, China, Japan, Nepal, Korea (Democratic People's Republic of), and Taiwan, Province of China

Conservation status

Gastrodia elata threat status: Vulnerable

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:635522-1
WFO ID wfo-0000971542
COL ID 3FDH7
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Gastrodia elata Gastrodia mairei Gastrodia viridis Gastrodia elata f. alba Gastrodia elata f. flavida Gastrodia elata f. glauca Gastrodia elata f. pilifera Gastrodia elata f. elata Gastrodia elata var. pallens Gastrodia elata var. viridis Gastrodia elata var. gracilis Gastrodia elata f. viridis Gastrodia elata var. obovata