''Aphyllorchis'', commonly known as pauper orchids or as 無葉蘭屬/无叶兰属 (wu ye lan shu), is a genus of about twenty species of

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. 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 or near the ground, as opposed to ...

leafless

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. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Orchidaceae. Orchids in this genus have fleshy, upright stems and small to medium-sized resupinate flowers with narrow

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 coine ...

s and petals. They are

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

to a region extending from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

east to China and Japan, south to

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

Description

Orchids in the genus ''Aphyllorchis'' are leafless, terrestrial, mycotrophic herbs. A few to many flowers are borne on an erect, usually fleshy, unbranched flowering stem. The flowers are resupinate, more or less cup-shaped with the

s and petals free from each other and similar in length but with the

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal c ...

sepal curving forwards. The labellum is larger than the sepals and petals, boat-shaped and divided into two main sections, an upper "epichile" and lower "hypochile". The epichile is attached to the base of the column and the hypochile often with two lobes and turned downwards.

Taxonomy and naming

The genus ''Aphyllorchis'' was first formally described in 1825 by

Carl Ludwig Blume Charles Ludwig de Blume or Karl Ludwig von Blume (9 June 1796, Braunschweig – 3 February 1862, Leiden) was a German- Dutch botanist. He was born at Braunschweig in Germany, but studied at Leiden University and spent his professional life wor ...

and the description was published in his book '' Tabellen en Platen voor de Javaansche Orchideeen''. The name ''Aphyllorchis'' is derived from the

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

words ''aphyllos'' meaning "without leaves" and ''orchis'' meaning "testicle" or "orchid".

List of species

The following is a list of species of ''Aphyllorchis'' recognised by the

World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected pla ...

as at October 2018: *'' Aphyllorchis acuminata'' J.J.Sm. *'' Aphyllorchis alpina''

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

& Pantl. *'' Aphyllorchis angustipetala'' J.J.Sm. *'' Aphyllorchis anomala'' Dockrill *'' Aphyllorchis arfakensis'' J.J.Sm. *'' Aphyllorchis caudata'' Rolfe ex Downie *'' Aphyllorchis elata'' Schltr. *'' Aphyllorchis evrardii'' Gagnep. *'' Aphyllorchis exilis'' Schltr. *'' Aphyllorchis gollani'' Duthie *'' Aphyllorchis halconensis''

Ames Ames may refer to: Places United States * Ames, Arkansas, a place in Arkansas * Ames, Colorado * Ames, Illinois * Ames, Indiana * Ames, Iowa, the most populous city bearing this name * Ames, Kansas * Ames, Nebraska * Ames, New York * Ames, Ok ...

*'' Aphyllorchis kemulensis'' J.J.Sm. *'' Aphyllorchis maliauensis'' Suetsugu, Suleiman & Tsukaya *'' Aphyllorchis montana'' Rchb.f. ** ''Aphyllorchis montana'' var. ''montana'' ** ''Aphyllorchis montana'' f. ''pingtungensis'' T.P.Lin ** ''Aphyllorchis montana'' var. ''rotundipetala'' ( C.S.Leou, S.K.Yu & C.T.Lee) T.P.Lin *'' Aphyllorchis pallida'' Blume *''

Aphyllorchis queenslandica ''Aphyllorchis queenslandica'', commonly known as the yellow pauper orchid, is a leafless Terrestrial plant, terrestrial mycotrophic orchid in the Family (biology), family Orchidaceae. It has up to twelve dull yellow flowers on a thin, fleshy, ...

'' Dockrill *'' Aphyllorchis siantanensis'' J.J.Sm. *'' Aphyllorchis simplex''

Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

& F.T.Wang *'' Aphyllorchis spiculaea'' Rchb.f. *'' Aphyllorchis striata'' (

Ridl. Henry Nicholas Ridley CMG (1911), MA (Oxon), FRS, FLS, F.R.H.S. (10 December 1855 – 24 October 1956) was an English botanist, geologist and naturalist who lived much of his life in Singapore. He was instrumental in promoting rubber trees ...

) Schltr. *'' Aphyllorchis sumatrana'' J.J.Sm. *'' Aphyllorchis yachangensis'' Ying Qin & Yan Liu

Distribution and habitat

Most species in the genus ''Aphyllorchis'' grows at low altitudes in wet forests, often near streams. They are found in India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan,

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia. Two species are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found else ...

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

and one to China.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20844 Neottieae genera Orchids of India Orchids of China Orchids of Japan Orchids of Thailand Orchids of Vietnam Orchids of Malaysia Orchids of Indonesia Orchids of the Philippines Orchids of New Guinea Orchids of Queensland Myco-heterotrophic orchids Terrestrial orchids