''Cryptostylis hunteriana'', commonly known as the leafless tongue-orchid is a flowering plant in the orchid

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

aceae and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to south eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is leafless but has up to ten green flowers with a more or less erect, dark reddish brown labellum.

Description

''Cryptostylis hunteriana'' is a terrestrial,

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

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 Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

saprophytic Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi ...

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

. Up to ten flowers long and wide are borne on a flowering stem high. The most prominent feature of the flower is its

spatula A spatula is a broad, flat, flexible blade used to mix, spread and lift material including foods, drugs, plaster and paints. In medical applications, "spatula" may also be used synonymously with tongue depressor. The word ''spatula'' derives ...

-shaped labellum which is red or maroon with a green base, and is distinctly hairy. The labellum is long and wide with inrolled margins and a smooth underside. Thin 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 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s measuring in length and about wide arise from its base. The

petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

s are similar to the sepals but shorter and narrower. Flowering mainly occurs from December to February.

Taxonomy and naming

''Cryptostylis hunteriana'' was first formally described in 1938 by William Henry Nicholls from a specimen collected near Marlo by William Hunter (1893–1971), a surveyor from

Bairnsdale Bairnsdale (locally ) (Gunai language, Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, situated in a region traditionally inhabited by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated popu ...

. The description was published in '' The Victorian Naturalist''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''hunteriana'') honours the collector of the type specimen.

Distribution and habitat

The leafless tongue-orchid grows singly or in small colonies in a range of habitats including wet heath and sedgeland, on grasstree plains and in woodland with scribbly gum, silvertop ash, red bloodwood and black sheoak. It often grows near the other tongue-orchids '' C. subulata'' and '' C. erecta''. The species is found in coastal areas and nearby ranges south from the Gibraltar Range National Park in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

to East

Gippsland Gippsland () is a rural region in the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains south of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers an elongated area of east of th ...

between Marlo and

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in Victoria. In

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

it has been recorded from the coast at Tin Can Bay to the Glass House Mountains.

Ecology

Like other Australian members of its genus, ''C. hunteriana'' is pollinated by the ichneumon wasp known as the orchid dupe wasp ('' Lissopimpla excelsa''), the males of which mistake the flower parts for female wasps and copulate with it. Unlike other members of the genus, it lacks a leaf and is instead thought to have a relationship with a fungus for its metabolism.

Conservation

The total population of ''C. hunteriana'' is estimated to be between 1300 and 1500 plants in New South Wales and several hundred in Victoria. The main threat to the species is habitat loss due to housing development and road construction. It has been classified as ''vulnerable'' under the Australian Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' and the New South Wales '' Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016''. In Victoria it is listed as "endangered" under the '' Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5191070 hunteriana Endemic orchids of Australia Orchids of New South Wales Orchids of Victoria (state) Orchids of Queensland Plants described in 1838