''Erythrorchis cassythoides'', commonly known as the black bootlace orchid, is a leafless climbing orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has long, dark brown to blackish stems and groups of up to thirty yellowish to greenish, sweetly scented flowers and is endemic to eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Description

''Erythrorchis cassythoides'' is a leafless, climbing,

mycotrophic A mycotroph is a plant that gets all or part of its carbon, water, or nutrient supply through symbiotic association with fungi. The term can refer to plants that engage in either of two distinct symbioses with fungi: *Many mycotrophs have a mut ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

that has thin, wiry, dark brown to blackish stems up to long and branching groups of flowers with between ten and thirty

resupinate Resupination is derived from the Latin word ''resupinus'', meaning "bent back with the face upward" or "on the back". "Resupination" is the noun form of the adjective "resupine" which means "being upside-down, supine or facing upward". The word " ...

flowers. The groups of flowers are long, each flower yellow to greenish and wide. The sepals and

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are long and wide with the lateral sepals and petals curved and spreading apart from each other. The labellum is white, long, wide with wavy or crinkled edges but has brown or reddish streaks as it ages. There is a callus consisting of a hairy plate and two round ridges in the centre of the labellum. Flowering occurs from August to December and is followed by the fruit which is a capsule long and wide.

Taxonomy and naming

The black bootlace orchid was first formally described by Richard Cunningham who sent a specimen and hand-written description to his brother Allan, giving the plant the name ''Dendrobium cassythoides''. Allan Cunningham, in turn sent the description to

John Lindley John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...

who published it in ''

Edwards's Botanical Register ''The Botanical Register'', subsequently known as ''Edwards's Botanical Register'', was an illustrated horticultural magazine that ran from 1815 to 1847. It was started by the botanical illustrator Sydenham Edwards, who had previously illustrate ...

''. In 1986, Leslie Andrew Garay changed the name to ''Erythrorchis cassythoides''. In the note to his brother, Richard Cunningham wrote that he had called the plant "Cassythoides, from the ''prima facie'' resemblance it has to the genus Cassytha, not only in its leafless character and short racemes of flowers, but in its peculiar bronze or japanned papulose stems - it may be found, that it also resembles it in its climbing propensities." John Lindley noted "It is not a little remarkable that so highly curious a plant as this should so long have been over looked, although a native of a locality which, as Mr. Allan Cunningham remarks, has doubtless been traversed by Botanists of many countries in Europe, who have visited Port Jackson in ships of discovery since the Colony was founded in January 1788, viz., French, Spanish, German, Swedish, Russian, &c., besides many of our own countrymen."

Distribution and habitat

''Erythrorchis cassythoides'' grows in forest on eucalypts, stumps and logs in near-coastal areas and nearby tablelands between the Blackdown Tableland in Queensland and Waterfall in the Royal National Park, New South Wales.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10274203 Vanilleae Orchids of New South Wales Orchids of Queensland Plants described in 1836