Neottieae is an orchid tribe in the subfamily

Epidendroideae Epidendroideae is a subfamily of plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Epidendroideae is larger than all the other orchid subfamilies together, comprising more than 15,000 species in 576 genera. Most epidendroid orchids are tropical epiphyt ...

. It contains six genera and over 200 species distributed mainly in temperate and subtropical zones of the northern hemisphere. All its members are terrestrial plants, hinting at an early branching with Epidendroideae which is largely an epiphytic group. Neottieae is likely to be the result of a single temperate radiation of epidendroids, although it appears that some lineages in this tribe have crept back into the tropics. The genus '' Thaia'' had been tentatively included in this tribe, but is now placed in the tribe

Thaieae ''Thaia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. The sole species is ''Thaia saprophytica'', native to Laos and Thailand.Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P.J., Chase, M.C. & Rasmussen, F.N. (2006). Epidendroideae (Pa ...

. Palmorchis is sister to the other genera and was moved here from Palmorchideae based on molecular evidence. It is the only group in this tribe that occurs in Central and South America and is morphologically isolated.

Etymology

The name of this tribe was taken from one of its genera: ''

Neottia ''Neottia'' is a genus of orchids. The genus now includes the former genus ''Listera'', commonly known as twayblades referring to the single pair of opposite leaves at the base of the flowering stem. The genus is native to temperate, subarctic ...

'' Guett. (1754). This name refers to the particular shape of the tangled mass of roots of plants in this genus, forming what looks like a bird's “nest”. In Greek "neottia" means "nest". The name ''Neottia'' was introduced in the botanical nomenclature by the French naturalist and geologist Jean-Étienne Guettard (1715 - 1786) in 1754; while the name for the tribe was proposed by the English botanist

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 ...

(1799 - 1865) in the publication "Orchidearum Sceletos" of 1826.

Description

Plants of this tribe are terrestrial orchids with approximately 85 temperate species. In addition, some of these plants are

mycoheterotrophic Myco-heterotrophy (from Greek μύκης , "fungus", ἕτερος ', "another", "different" and τροφή ', "nutrition") is a symbiotic relationship between certain kinds of plants and fungi, in which the plant gets all or part of its food fr ...

, i.e. no longer reliant on chlorophyll (genus

and

Limodorum ''Limodorum'' is a genus of myco-heterotrophic orchids. All species are temperate terrestrial plants and occur across much of Europe, North-West Africa, the Mediterranean Islands, and as far east as Iran. Plants have evolved away from photosynt ...

). Mycoheterotrophy is common and has independently evolved at least three times in this group. The height varies from a few centimeters up to about 100 cm (genus

Epipactis ''Epipactis'', or helleborine, is a genus of terrestrial orchids consisting of approximately 70 species. This genus is abbreviated as Epcts in horticultural trade. Description Their creeping, fleshy rhizomes grow offshoots, from which then eme ...

). The prevalent biological form of the tribe is rhizome geophyte, they are herbaceous perennials with underground buds. The temperate species remain dormant underground when conditions are too cold.

References

* Content in this page translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at :it:Neottieae.

External links

Epidendroideae tribes {{Epidendroideae-stub

Etymology

Description

See also

References

External links