Gastrodia sesamoides

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Cinnamon bells
Gastrodia sesamoides in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Tribe: Gastrodieae
Genus: Gastrodia
Species:
G. sesamoides
Binomial name
Gastrodia sesamoides
R.Br.[1]

Gastrodia sesamoides, commonly known as cinnamon bells or common potato orchid in

native
to Australia and New Zealand.

Description

Gastrodia sesamoides is a leafless, terrestrial saprophyte with an underground rhizome up to 80 mm (3 in) long and 30 mm (1 in) in diameter. The thin, fleshy brown flowering stem is 12–75 cm (5–30 in) tall with between three and six bracts 4–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) long and between three and twenty five flowers. The flowers are cinnamon brown to greyish brown and often rough on the outside, white inside with the sepals and petals joined to form a bell-shaped tube 15–20 mm (0.6–0.8 in) long. Each flower has a pedicel or "stalk" 2–10 mm (0.08–0.4 in) long and a cone-shaped ovary with the narrower end towards the base. The flowers often produce an appealing cinnamon-like scent. Flowering occurs from September to January in Australia and from August to May in New Zealand, but the flowers are self-pollinating. Flowering is enhanced by fire the previous summer.[2][3][4][5][6]

Taxonomy and naming

Gastrodia sesamoides was first formally described in 1810 by

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae.[7][8] The specific epithet (sesamoides) refers to a supposed similarity to the sesame plant, the ending -oides being a Latin suffix meaning "like", "resembling" or "having the form of".[9]

Distribution and habitat

Cinnamon bells is widespread and common, occurring south from the

Marlborough and Nelson areas of the South Island. It grows in a wide variety of habitats, including forest and coastal scrub from lowland areas to subalpine habitats as long as there is adequate rainfall or soil moisture. In New Zealand it is often found in forestry plantations and in gardens where pine bark mulch is used.[2][3][5][6][10]

Ecology

Because the potato orchid does not produce chlorophyll it is unable to make its own food via photosynthesis. Alternatively, it has a complex relationship with a fungus. The orchid receives its nutrients from the fungus, and the fungus obtains its habitat from the orchid and minerals and sugars from the roots of other forest trees.[11]

Gastrodia sesamoides has been introduced to and is naturalised in South Africa.[12][13]

Conservation

This orchid is common and widespread throughout most of its range but is classed as "rare" in South Australia.[14]

Uses

Use as food

bandicoots had scratched in search of the tubers after detecting the plants underground by scent.[17] The flavour of the tuber is said to resemble that of the beetroot, though insipid and watery.[15][18]

Use in horticulture

Cultivation of Gastrodia sesamoides has yet to be achieved.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Gastrodia sesamoides". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. ^
    ISBN 1877069124
    .
  3. ^ a b c "Gastrodia sesamoides". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  4. ISBN 0-7318-1031-7
    .
  5. ^ a b "Gastrodia sesamoides". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  6. ^ a b Weston, Peter H. "Gastrodia sesamoides". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  7. ^ "Gastrodia sesamoides". APNI. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  8. ^ Brown, Robert (1810). Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen. London. p. 330. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  9. ^ Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 483.
  10. ISBN 0864171927
    .
  11. ^ "Potato orchid". Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  12. ^ "Potato Orchid (Gastrodia sesamoides)". iNaturalist.org. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  13. ^ "Gastrodia sesamoides". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  14. ^ "Gastrodia sesamoides" (PDF). Government of South Australia Department for Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  15. ^
    ISBN 0006344364
    .
  16. ^ "Potato Orchid". Plant Use. Australian National Botanic Gardens. February 2003. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  17. ^ "Potato orchid". Australian National Botanic Gardens. February 2003. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  18. ^ "Potato Orchid". Aussie Gardening. Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2011.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gastrodia_sesamoides&oldid=1154733505"