Nodding swamp orchid
Geodorum densiflorum growing near Peravoor
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Epidendroideae
Genus: Geodorum
Species:
G. densiflorum
Binomial name
Geodorum densiflorum
(Lam.) Schltr.[1]
Synonyms[1]

Geodorum densiflorum, commonly known as pink nodding orchid[2] or 地宝兰 (di bao lan),[3] is a plant in the orchid family and is native to areas from tropical Asia to eastern Australia and some Pacific Islands. It is a terrestrial orchid with broad, pleated, dark green to yellowish leaves and up to and twenty pale pink flowers with dark red veins on the labellum. It grows in wetter habitats including rainforest, woodlands, grasslands and swamps.

Description

Geodorum densiflorum is a leafy, terrestrial herb with crowded pseudobulbs 30–50 mm (1–2 in) long and 20–30 mm (0.8–1 in) wide. There are between three and five dark green to yellowish pleated leaves 250–350 mm (9.8–14 in) long and 60–80 mm (2–3 in) wide with a stalk 20–80 mm (0.8–3 in) long. Between eight and twenty resupinate, pale pink flowers 18–20 mm (0.7–0.8 in) wide are borne on a flowering stem 200–400 mm (8–20 in) long. The flowers do not usually open widely. The sepals are 10–12 mm (0.4–0.5 in) long, 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide and the petals are a similar length but wider. The labellum is pink with dark red veins, 10–11 mm (0.39–0.43 in) long and 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) wide with the sides curved upwards. Flowering occurs between December and February in Australia and between June and July in Asia.[3][4][5][6]

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1792 by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck who gave it the name Limodorum densiflorum and published the description in the Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique.[7][8] In 1919, Rudolf Schlechter changed the name to Geodorum densiflorum.[9] The specific epithet (densiflorum) is derived from the Latin words densus meaning "thick", "close" or "compact"[10]: 790  and flos meaning "flower".[10]: 45 

Distribution

Geodorum densiflorum has been reported from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Assam, Myanmar, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Thailand, Vietnam, Ryukyu Islands, Ogasawara Islands, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, New Guinea, Australia, the Solomons, the Bismarcks, Fiji, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Micronesia. It grows in a range of mostly wet habitats including rainforests, forests and grassland.[1][3][4]

In Australia, the species occurs in Western Australia, northern parts of the Northern Territory and from Cape York in Queensland to the Macleay River in New South Wales.[4]

Conservation

Geodorum densiflorum is listed as "endangered" under the New South Wales Government Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. The main threats to the species are habitat loss, weed invasion and trampling.[2][6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Geodorum densiflorum". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. 1 2 "Pink Nodding Orchid - profile". Government of New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "Geodorum densiflorum". Flora of China. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 D.L.Jones; T.Hopley; S.M.Duffy (2010). "Factsheet - Geodorum densiflorum". Australian Tropical Rainforest Orchids. Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR), Australian Government. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  5. ↑ "Geodorum densiflorum". Orchids of New Guinea. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Geodorum densiflorum". Government of New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  7. ↑ "Linodorum densiflorum". APNI. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  8. ↑ Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste (1792). Encyclopédie Méthodique, Botanique. Vol. 3. Paris. p. 516. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  9. ↑ "Geodorum densiflorum". APNI. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
  10. 1 2 Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

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