''Lecanorchis'' is a genus of orchids (family

Orchidaceae Orchids are plants that belong to the family (biology), family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan plants that ...

) belonging to the subfamily

Vanilloideae Vanilloideae is one of the subfamilies of orchids belonging to the large family Orchidaceae. Lindley (1836) and Garay (1986)Garay,L. (1986), Olim Vanillaceae. Botanical Museum Leaflets. Harvard University 30 : 233-237. treated it as a separate f ...

. The scientific name is derived from the Greek words ''lekane'' (basin) and ''orchis'' (orchid). They occur in mountain forest of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

at altitudes of .Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> They are terrestrial, leafless myco-heterotrophs (formerly called saprophytes). They produce numerous, long, thick, horizontal roots under a short

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

. The erect, dark, branched or unbranched stems are thin and brittle. They bear few to many dull brown, purple, yellow or green

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s with a somewhat brighter

lip The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...

. The lip is about of equal length to the

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 and is covered with dense, yellow hair. Characteristics for this species are: * A calyculus, a cup-like structure formed from a group of small

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s, is present. * The erect gynostemium (the fused

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

and

pistil Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl (botany), whorl of a flower; it consists ...

) is elongate. ''Lecanorchis'' is related to '' Clematepistephium'' and '' Eriaxis'', both endemic to

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

Species

Species accepted as of June 2014: # '' Lecanorchis amethystea'' Y.Sawa, Fukunaga & S.Sawa (2006) (Japan, Taiwan) # '' Lecanorchis betongensis'' Suddee & H.A.Pedersen (2011) (Thailand) # '' Lecanorchis bicarinata'' Schltr. (1922) (New Guinea) # '' Lecanorchis brachycarpa'' Ohwi. (1938) (Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan) # '' Lecanorchis ciliolata'' J.J.Sm. (1929) (New Guinea) # '' Lecanorchis flavicans'' Fukuy. (1942) (Ryukyu Islands)(Status : threatened) # '' Lecanorchis japonica'' Blume (1856) (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Fujian, Hunan) # '' Lecanorchis javanica'' Blume (1856) (Java, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, New Guinea) # '' Lecanorchis latens'' T.P.Lin & W.M.Lin (2011) (Taiwan) # '' Lecanorchis kiusiana'' Tuyama (1955) (Korea, Japan) # '' Lecanorchis malaccensis'' Ridl. (1893) (Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Malaysia, Sumatra) # '' Lecanorchis multiflora'' J.J.Sm. (1918) (Thailand, Yunnan, Borneo, Malaysia, Sumatra, Java) # '' Lecanorchis neglecta'' Schltr. (1911) (New Guinea) # '' Lecanorchis nigricans'' Honda (1931) (Japan, Taiwan, Fujian, Thailand, Ryukyu Islands) # '' Lecanorchis seidenfadenii'' Szlach. & Mytnik (2000) (Malaysia) # '' Lecanorchis sikkimensis'' N.Pearce & P.J.Cribb (1999) (Sikkim, Bhutan) # '' Lecanorchis subpelorica'' T.C.Hsu & S.W.Chung, (2010) (Taiwan) # '' Lecanorchis suginoana'' (Tuyama) Seriz. (2005) # '' Lecanorchis thalassica'' T.P.Lin (1987) (Taiwan) #'' Lecanorchis vietnamica'' Aver. (2005), Vietnam #'' Lecanorchis virella'' T.Hashim. (1989) (Japan, Taiwan) A new species, '' Lecanorchis tabugawaensis'' was described in 2016.

References

* (1856) Museum Botanicum 2: 188. * (2003) Genera Orchidacearum 3: 316 ff. Oxford University Press. * Orchid Research Newsletter 47 (January 2006) - Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. * - ''Lecanorchis seidenfadeni (Orchidaceae, Vanilloideae), a new orchid species from Malaya''; An.Bot.Fennici 37;227-230 (on line

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q133710 Vanilloideae genera Vanilleae Myco-heterotrophic orchids